Six Weeks in Ba Sing Se
by ClarkyDee
Summary: COMPLETE: It's six weeks after the end of the war and the Gaang is still together. Toph and Sokka are out one night when they stumble onto a conspiracy between the Dai Li and a rogue faction of the Fire Nation that seeks to renew the war and things turn complicated when they begin to acknowledge their feelings for each other. Action and Romance. TophxSokka
1. Chapter 1

It was a balmy summer night like so many others. The moon was full in the sky but the stars over Ba Sing Se were obscured by the multitude of lights that lit the city at night. In the lower ring, Sergeant Chou stood at ease near the gate to a warehouse marked with the coin emblem of the Earth Kingdom Army. Chou had been on this assignment for six boring weeks, ever since the war had ended contingents of the army had been brought into the city to oversee the transfer of control from the Fire Nation Army back to the interim government of the Earth Kingdom.

"Sergeant?" one of the new additions to Second Squad, Private Ling, asked and broke the silence. Sergeant Chou turned to see what the young woman was pointing at. Three figures were approaching up the narrow alley that contained the gate into the warehouse compound. They wore civilian clothes but Chou could tell by their long purposeful strides and the way they carried themselves that they must be military.

"At ease, Private…" Chou waved her down. She looked at him with a quizzical expression. Under the light of the hanging lamps she was cute, Chou admitted. She had these sharp eyes, full of mischief, and a thin upturned nose which Chou found very attractive. Of course he couldn't ever tell her that. That's just not how things were done.

The other members of Second Squad, First Unit, gathered around him. There were four of them besides Sergeant Chou and Private Ling. Since the Fifth Earth Army had first fought in urban warfare nearly thirteen years ago, they had taken up the practice of informally dividing their squads into two smaller units. These units, six soldiers in size, were more effective than the cumbersome twelve soldier squads that made up the individual fighting forces of the Earth Nation Army. These units could maneuver down the narrow streets and through buildings.

"Who goes there?" Sergeant Chou called out to the trio. The three mysterious men were still coming and were now only a dozen paces away. None of them answered. Were these the men the ones he had been waiting for, not just this night but every night since he had been put at this post? Sergeant Chou rubbed his sweating hands against his pant legs in as casual a motion as possible. He hoped that it seemed casual anyways.

"What should we do Sergeant?" asked Corporal Fong. His voice was even but Chou knew him well enough to hear the undercurrent of unease the younger man felt. Sergeant Chou's eyes never left the approaching men but he could feel the wide stance that Corporal Fong took up. Fong was an earthbender, the only one in First Unit. Second Unit had one Earthbender as well, as per army regulation. An earthbender could save many lives in a battle. They could erect barriers and provided suppression for the non-bending troops to advance. Corporal Fong had saved all their lives many times and the others trusted him immensely. He took up his stance, preparing to control the situation if it came to a fight. Private Chen and Private Bai relaxed a little, knowing their safety was in capable hands. None of them expected a fight but these strangers made them all feel uneasy.

"Halt! In the name of the Earth Kingdom, identify yourselves," Sergeant Chou called out with practiced forcefulness. His sergeant voice was often enough to control civilians and turn recruits' knees to jelly. He prided himself on the way in which he could command soldiers, better than any cherry second lieutenant right out of the training yard. Chou smirked to himself but it did nothing to quell the nervous feeling in his belly. The trio of strangers halted only a few steps away from Sergeant Chou and his unit.

"Four bells chime. The rain falls upon all our heads," a crackling, low voice like thunder came from the leader of the mysterious men. Sergeant Chou's breath caught, it was the signal he had been awaiting for all these weeks, all his life perhaps.

Something was wrong here, Private Ling thought. Who were these mysterious men and what did that mean? Ling tensed, she had grown up on the mean streets of the lower ring and she had learned to trust her instincts and her instincts were screaming at her that something was wrong. The other soldiers eased a fraction at the words of this strange man. Maybe it was an old Fifth Army saying? She had only joined this unit in the last few weeks and she had yet to integrate herself into the close knit group. It had seemed to her that these men had known each other for years but she had never gotten a backstory out of any of them. Not even from their handsome sergeant. She blushed at that. Stupid brain, she thought to herself, acting like some schoolgirl on her first crush! Sergeant Chou was handsome though, and his big strong shoulders...well they were also very nice.

"The rain does not fall on those who are prepared for it," Sergeant Chou said with a small bow. The other soldiers shifted uneasily. Private Ling didn't understand. The leader of the strangers nodded his head slightly.

"Ones such as we are always prepared for the storm," the crackling, low voice said tipping his wide rain hat. The soldiers all bowed except for Private Ling. What was going on? What were they talking about? Storms and rain were not part of the Earth Kingdom Army mantra. And these men were not dressed as soldiers. "A new member?" the leader asked, waving his hand in a wide gesture towards Private Ling. She shifted uncomfortably under his gaze.

"A replacement," Sergeant Chou said with deep regret tinging his voice.

"Sergeant?" Private Ling asked, her voice barely a whisper. She was afraid. Her instincts told her she needed to get out of here.

"I'm sorry Private," Sergeant Chou didn't even look at her. The leader watched Sergeant Chou intently. "Long live the Dai Li," it was barely a whisper. Then Private Ling heard the quiet scrap of steel on leather and the whistle of a blade cutting through the air. The stroke was purposeful and clean, it was the least Sergeant Chou owed the young woman under his command. Her body slumped to the ground with a wet thud. Sergeant Chou bowed his head to the leader of these men, these Dai Li agents. His eyes misted over and he blinked as hot tears rolled down his face. She had trusted him but he had been loyal to the Dai Li since he had been inducted at the age of thirteen. Nearly fifteen years of living a double life, a sleeper agent, within the Earth Kingdom Army had come to fruition on this night.

"Long live the Dai Li," the other soldiers intoned and bowed to the leader. Sergeant Chou swallowed a hot breath and stymied his tears before looking up. "This warehouse stores…" he began.

"We know what it stores, Agent Chou. Are there any more guards inside?" Agent Chou nodded. "Are they initiates?" Agent Chou shook his head. They were soldiers from First Squad, not members of the Dai Li. They would need to be dealt with. He wiped his sword clean on a cleaning rag he fished out from his pocket. This would be a long night and his blade would be needed again before long.

"Do you think this will be enough?" Sokka asked, "I mean, what's an appropriate gift? We don't really do big birthdays in the Southern Water Tribe, you know." He was jingling a small bag of coins in his hand in front of the face of his small companion.

"Will you relax? Shesh! Plus, we are gonna turn this money into a lot more real soon," Toph said with a mischievous grin. She quickly snatched the bag of coins from Sokka's hand.

"Is that why we're out here at night?" Sokka said looking around suspiciously. They had come down to the lower ring to a disreputable looking street lined with taverns and inns.

"Will you just trust me," she answered him vaguely. "When have my scams ever gone wrong, hm?" she poked a finger at his chest.

"Well there was this one time I can recall," Sokka answered with a frown. "I recall it ended with you and my sister in jail!"

"That was just a fluke! It was all what's his name's fault," Toph tried her best casual voice.

"His name was Combustion Man!" Sokka was getting worked up and Toph smiled to herself. Once he was in a tizzy he would forget whatever it was they were arguing about. She had him now.

"I thought Zuko said his name was…" she began but was interrupted.

"Whatever! Combustion Man is a cooler name anyways," he crossed his arms and gave her a hurt look. Then realizing she couldn't see his face he simply sighed and slumped his shoulders. "Okay, so I'll admit that was a special case but still."

"But nothing! Now come on, we don't have all night," Toph said with triumph. With that she turned and strode off purposefully towards nearby tavern. Sokka had no choice but to chase after her. For someone with such short legs she sure can move fast, he thought as he had to speed up to keep up with her. They had been back in the city six weeks now and with Katara's healing his injured leg was finally fully healthy again. Just before they entered she stopped and he nearly bumped into her, stopping just short and pinwheeling his arms to keep himself from falling over.

"Don't you think we should choose a nicer looking inn?" Sokka asked looking through a nearby window. "What kind of name is 'The Black Lotus and the Blind Queen' anyways? Sheesh!" The place was certainly...lively. The large common room was lit by a large fireplace and people of all kinds were milling about, drinking and carousing. Two young men, probably soldiers on leave were, singing off key soldiers' songs to the cheers of some and boos of others. Someone caught Sokka's eye when she rose to her feet. Whoa, Sokka thought, she was tall and well toned, with short brown hair and blue eyes but he didn't notice any of those things. His eyes were drawn to her low neckline and his jaw dropped open. Maybe this was a nice inn afterall. Someone across from her rose to his feet as well and suddenly there was a flash of movement and before Sokka knew it the man was on the floor. The pretty woman had punched his lights out. Sokka gulped, he would have to make sure to keep his eyes away from her chest otherwise he might end up like that poor shlub.

"Sokka!" Toph said yet again, tapping her foot impatiently. Sokka turned back to look at the diminutive earthbender. He closed his mouth with embarrassment, thanking his lucky stars that she couldn't see him embarrass himself like that.

"What? Huh?"

"Did you hear ANYTHING I just said?" she crossed her arms over her chest and gave him a scowl that said she already knew the answer. Sokka couldn't help but smirk, she reminded him of Katara when they were kids, well younger kids anyways. He would always do immature things to annoy her and she would take on that exact stance and expression. Maybe it's a girl thing? Like maybe they can all just do it? Sokka made a mental note to ask someone back at the house. Someone who wasn't mad at him right now.

"Well, I...uh…" Sokka lied unconvincingly. "Well, whatever it was I know it was a good plan! You are the best scammer there is afterall." Sokka tensed up for the hit but it never came.

"Darn right!" Toph said with a hint of pride. Sokka's words had mollified her somewhat. Sokka breathed a sigh of relief just before Toph's arm shot out and punched him in the arm.

"Hey!" he said more out of habit than anything. It wasn't a hard punch just surprising. He had thought he had diffused the situation just fine. Whether it was Toph, Katara, or Suki he had no idea how girls thought. Just when you think everything is fine, suddenly everything flips around on you!

"Are you listening now?" Toph asked and Sokka nodded. Realising she couldn't see that either, he replied.

"Yeah, you've got my full attention," he had to fight the urge to turn back to the well endowed woman with the low cut blouse. "What's the plan? What do you need me to do?"

"Well, this inn has an earth floor like most of the establishments in Ba Sing Se, right?" Toph enjoyed their scams. Normally it was Sokka would planned out what the Gaang did but here she was in her element, she was in charge, and it was a thrill. Without waiting for a reply, she went on, "But this place also uses earth tables. You see where I'm going with this?" Sokka nodded thoughtfully. After a moment Toph asked impatiently, "Well?"

"Oh right!" Sokka slapped himself on the forehead, she can't see your nods you idiot! He was always forgetting that about her. She just always seemed so capable it was easy to forget she was blind. "You can bend through the earth tables and change the results!" Sokka announced a little too loudly. Toph punched his arm harder this time.

"Great! Why don't you just call out to the whole world!" She admonished him. For such a smart guy, Meathead could be such an idiot sometimes.

"Sorry," he said. "So what do you need me to do? I can't exactly help you with the earthbending."

"Same as usual. You handle the side bets," she said. After the Runaway incident they had been careful to only play a few rounds to avoid arousing suspicion. Instead Sokka would take side bets to increase the amount they won on each round. That way they could still turn a large profit without outstaying their welcome and running into trouble with the law.

"Right. You ready?" Sokka asked and Toph nodded. They turned to go inside but Sokka stopped. "Wait a second, won't there be other earthbenders in there? Won't they be able to tell if you're bending to win?"

"Sokka!" she said, feigning hurt in her voice, "did you forget?"

"Forget what?" he was puzzled.

"I'm the greatest earthbender in the world!" she gave him a wide cheesy smile.

"Right. Remind me, who said that again?" He smiled back and she punched him in the arm. "Ow," he said as an afterthought. Then they went inside.

The first thing that hit Sokka when they entered was the smell. The sour stench of bad beer and vomit mixed into the sawdust on the floor was overwhelming. The cold back home kept the smells of things muted and he was still unused to the stink of so many people in such a hot space. The stench of sweat alone was enough to make him nauseous. His eyes scanned the common room and the long bar counter. The barkeep, a short fat man with a jovial look about him waved to the duo. Sokka put on his best winning grin and returned the wave. Toph felt Sokka's movement through the earth floor and waved in the same general direction, not sure what she was waving at but she trusted Sokka so she continued to wave until he stopped.

The din of people talking and singing was overwhelming to Toph. She had grown up in such quiet surroundings on the Bei Fong Estate. She was glad she didn't rely on her ears to navigate like she had heard other blind people did. She would have been totally lost in the cacophony around her. She heard two men's voices shouting over the din, they were singing a song that she didn't recognize but liked it.

_When Lee comes marching home,_

_Hurrah! Hurrah!_

_We'll know the fire nation's done,_

_Hurrah! Hurrah!_

_The girls will all turn out,_

_Hurrah! Hurrah!_

_And welcome Lee home!_

The song brought on cheers from some of the patrons and boos from some others. The jeers were good natured and Toph thought it was all in fun. The occupation had ended six weeks ago and the interim Earth Army Government along with the New Fire Nation Army had done all they could to ensure any wrongs committed during the occupation were punished and any reparations paid. Tensions were still high but they were dissolving faster than any could have predicted. Twinkletoes and Zuko had been instrumental and people truly believed that the war that had lasted a hundred years was finally over. People felt like celebrating.

One of the other patrons, a woman, called out that she would give Lee something to hurrah about and what she said next caused Toph to blush and the other patrons all to laugh.

"Here's to the women of the Earth Kingdom!" one of the singers called out, his voice uneven and slurry, "Giving our boys something worth fighting for!" That received another chorus of laughs.

"Don't listen to this sweet talker!" the woman called back, "if his fighting is anything to go by…" she let the sentence trail off meaningfully and the crowd exploded with laughter.

"Hey! She's just jealous Hong!" the other singer called over the crowd. "That she ain't got a nice Earth Kingdom girl to go back to!" The crowd cat-called and there was more laughing.

"Just because my standards are higher than either of you, Ji," she said offhandedly, "doesn't mean I've given up looking for a fine Earth Nation man!" The jeers at Ji and Hong were overwhelming and the two gave up. There was laughter and offers to buy the woman a drink from all around. Toph liked her.

"So, where to?" Sokka leaned in so Toph could hear him over the crowd. She pointed to a table in the back corner where some patrons were shooting dice. She led the way to the table through the crowd and Sokka hung back a few paces so it wouldn't look like they were together.

"Mind if I join you?" she asked the leader of the gamblers.

"Now what's a kid know about dice? Get out of here," the gruff man told her.

"Oh? Well, I just thought you could teach me," Toph gave a sigh for effect before taking out her bag of coins, "but if my money is no good here…" She began to turn before the man replied.

"Now…uh…" he said, his voice dripping with greed, "let's not be hasty." He waved her back and she took a seat on a chair at the table. She took a moment to rest her feet on the earth floor and clear away any sawdust that might muddle her vision. She could see the table top clearly and the tiny metal dice. Too easy.

"It's Liar's Dice," the man said while pushing a stone cup across the table to Toph and kept one in his hand. It contained six metal dice. "We all roll our dice under the cups so nobody else can see. Then one of us bids, that means they say how many of what number they think is on the table. That's how much everyone together has. Then somebody has to call his bluff, or increase the bid by saying they think there is more of one number dice on the table. We keep going until somebody calls a bluff and if they were bluffing they lose one of their dice and if they were telling the truth the other player loses a dice. We bet each bid until someone wins at the end. Got it, kid?" Toph just sat there for a second, of course she already knew the rules but it would be better if she feigned ignorance.

"Well, I mean...I guess so," she said without conviction. The man gave a leering smile that she didn't see.

"Well then let's get started," he said and the gamblers around the table began to shake their cups. Then all slammed down on the tabletop and peeked at their own. Toph mimed looking at her own, though she could see them with her bending. She could see every die on the table. This was going to be easy. The gambling man was smiling to himself, he knew all the probabilities, this poor kid didn't have a chance. Then she won the first round.

"Hey buddy," Sokka inched over to one of the observers, "want to make this interesting?" It had begun.

"What? How?" the gambling man stood up pointing an accusing finger at Toph who gave him her meekest kid smile.

"Did I win? Wow!" Toph said with false amazement, "This is my first time playing too! It must be beginner's luck!" She said as she shoveled her winnings into the coin bag which was straining at the bulk of all her ill gotten gains. Sokka was collecting side bets from a few grumpy patrons.

"You...you cheated!" he accused. It was impossible! He knew every hand, every probability! No amateur could be so good. Then a thought struck him. "You hussled me! You've played this game before!" The other gamblers boos the sore loser.

"There a problem here, Shen?" the woman from earlier had joined the audience that had grown around the dice game. Shen, the gambling man, looked up at her. His eyes lingered for a moment on her ample chest.

"Uh...no. I…" Shen said embarrassed.

"My eyes are up here," she shouted, "Or do you think you can disrespect an officer of the Fifth Earth Kingdom Army?" The common room quickly became silent. Almost a dozen hard looking men stood up, waiting. Shen was sweating profusely now.

"I...no...I mean no disrespect, Captain Ya," Shen bowed.

"None taken," the busty woman waved dismissively and the patrons settled back down. "Now, I think you had best take your leave."

"Oh, there's no need…" Toph began, "We were just leaving!" She made to stand but Captain Ya rested a firm hand on her shoulder. Her hands were calloused and hard, Toph noted. Maybe she was an earthbender. I couldn't have been caught, Toph thought with a hint of apprehension growing in the pit of her stomach, could I?

"Captain, was it?" Sokka stepped up beside the two. Captain Ya gave Sokka a withering look and it he kept his eyes locked onto hers. Do not stare at her boobs! Eyes up! Oma and Shu, keep those eyes up! "My friend and I were just going home. It's late…" he moved towards Toph but the Captain stepped between them.

"Why do you have a seat right there?" Captain Ya insisted. She was maybe a foot in front of Sokka and she was taller than him so he had to keep his neck craned up to avoid staring at her low cut neckline. This is so unfair! Being a teenaged boy was so often a disadvantage.

"Well, we were just going," Sokka stammered out, keeping his eyes locked on hers. Her blue eyes were hard as only a soldier's are but underneath they were deep pools that could see right through him. Sokka swallowed reflexively.

"Why do you just have a seat, right over there?" Captain Ya said with more insistence. "Just have a seat." She reached out to guide Sokka towards the recently vacated seat of Shen the gambler. Her arm reached around his shoulders and she rested her firm hand on his back gently nudging him towards to chair. Sokka tensed at the touch. Pins and needles ran up his back. His stupid body was always doing stupid things like that at the worse time! He was sweating more than the heat of the common room would account for and he inched himself forward. Captain Ya was so close that for a moment her chest brushed against his upper arm as he moved towards the chair. He gulped and sat down, glad that there was a table between her and him.

"So what are two kids doing in a place like this?" Captain Ya sat down between Toph and Sokka.

"Who are you calling kids?!" Sokka said defensively, "Back home, I'm considered a man!" His voice cracked, undermining his statement.

"Back home?" Captain Ya raised an eyebrow, her hard eyes studying the dark skinned youth. His clothes were an odd combination of leather, cloth and furs. He must be hot in this weather. Ba Sing Se wasn't exactly known for its mild summers and this one was one of the hottest on record. That was why she was wearing this low cut top. Oh please, she thought to herself, you wear it because you love to make the men uneasy! Well that too, naturally. This youth was obviously uneasy with her choice of clothing. Good, men say stupid things when they are distracted.

"Oh," Sokka said, catching himself too late. Way to go! Why don't you just tell her you're here with the Avatar! Hm, would that impress her? He wondered. "Well, I mean…"

"We're from Gaoling," Toph said, "country life necessitates growing up fast." Smart girl, Captain Ya thought appreciatively. Unfortunately, Captain Ya was well informed.

"Is that where you met the Avatar?" she swept her captain's glare over the young...girl?...it was hard to tell with her baggy clothing and dirty, round face. The stare didn't have any visible effect. This girl was tougher than most of the soldiers she knew.

"How did you know?" Sokka said with disbelief. Well, at least one of them had cracked. The truth was she hadn't been sure.

"We don't get many water tribesmen in Ba Sing Se," she said, resting her glare on the youth. "Gaoling? I've been there. Not as country as you might like me to think." Sokka swallowed at this, Toph sighed.

"I'm the Avatar's earthbending teacher," Toph admitted to the older woman. "That's…" Toph paused for a moment, "He's...well...he's Sokka." What was that all about? Captain Ya wondered. The pause was so short she wouldn't have noticed it if it hadn't been for her decade of service as a human lie detector for her troops.

"Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe, ma'am," Sokka held out his hand and Captain Ya looked down at it for a moment. This Sokka was obviously unused to talking with pretty women. Well, women that show off so much cleavage, she chided herself. Whatever, she was a grown woman and she could show off whatever she damn well pleased! She took the young man's hand and shook it firmly. He looked down at their hands for a moment, his eyes seeing past as her chest heaved slightly from the shaking motion. He immediately looked away, resting his eyes on his companion. Cute, Captain Ya thought, I wonder how old he is? Good grief, she chided herself, get a grip! She shouldn't have drank so much.

"And this is Toph," the young man said. Captain Ya noted there was no hesitation in his voice, no little pause while he decided what to introduce her as. Odd. She had thought maybe they were a couple but she wasn't getting that feeling anymore. "And we really should get going, we're shopping for my sister's birthday present," Sokka explained. Captain Ya nodded thoughtfully.

"Well I won't keep the two of you any longer," Captain Ya stood. "If you ever need anything from the army you come to Eel-Hound Company, Second Regiment, First Division of the Fifth Earth Kingdom Army and ask for Captain Ya," she nodded to the duo.

"Thanks ma'am," Sokka said, standing, trying to be as officious as possible.

"Yeah, thanks," Toph stood too and turned towards Captain Ya. Ya noticed the girl's eyes, deep green but washed over with grey. Was she blind? The Avatar's blind earthbending teacher? Captain Ya gave them a short bow and turned and walked away.

"You are such a spaz," Toph told him, turning to walk out.

"What are you talking about?" Sokka followed ungraciously after her as they made their way out of the tavern.

"I could feel your heartbeat and breathing, through the earth. Remember?" Toph could tell when someone was lying through the earth, well not Azula she remember, but that wasn't what she felt from the young man just then. It was the same kind of pattern of breath and heartbeat that she had often felt when Sokka was around Suki or Ty Lee. She had wondered what it was and she hoped that he was so off put by their encounter with the Earth Army Captain that she could coax it out of him. She never sensed him like that when he was talking to Katara or herself.

"So what? I wasn't...what?" Sokka was flabbergasted. "You felt nothing 'cause there was nothing to feel!"

"Weird, it's the same thing I feel when you are talking to Suki or Ty Lee…hm," Toph said as if she was just making the connection.

"What?!" Sokka said with outrage, "Toph! Don't...don't spy on me like that!"

"Huh?" they were out the door and on the street now. Spying? She wasn't spying, she just noticed it when she used her earthbending to see and Sokka couldn't blame her for that! "I wasn't spying!"

"Well still, just forget it alright," Sokka said sullenly. Toph sighed, she wasn't going to get anything out of him now. Then she felt something odd. Earthbending. She could feel it coming from nearby. It seemed like a fight.

"Sokka, I think someone needs our help," without waiting for a reply she took off with a run down the street and Sokka could only chase after her.

Half an hour had passed since the operation had begun. It was a tense half hour for Private Bai and Private Chen. They had been left to guard the warehouse gate while the other Dai Li agents infiltrated the compound and secured the supplies inside. The body of poor Private Ling had been stowed inside and Corporal Fong had churned the packed earth of the alley to bury the bloodstain she had left. Now there was no trace that she had ever been there, had ever been...Private Bai paused there. He was having second thoughts. It had been different before. Back when the Dai Li had been in control of Ba Sing Se and the King. Then it had been political abductions and reconditioning. Then when the Fire Nation had conquered the city their operations had moved to cracking down on revolts and dissenters. Now that the city was back in the hands of the Earth Kingdom Army and the Dai Li was in hiding, their methods had become even worse. When Bai had first joined the Dai Li he had thought that what they did was necessary. Sure, a few people had to be sacrificed but it was for the good of the Earth Kingdom. They were secret police but they were the secret saviours and protectors of the realm. Now what were they? Fugitives clinging onto power.

"Chen?" Agent Bai's voice was quiet and uneasy.

"What is it?" Agent Chen answered. They had been friends since the first day they had come to Lake Laogai to begin their training. Chen could tell that his friend was conflicted by the tone of his voice and it made his heart sink.

"What are we doing?" Bai asked.

"We are guarding this boring alley," Chen tried to make a joke but it died in his throat. Instead he let out a long, low sigh. "Please, don't make this harder than it has to be."

The two stood in silence.

"The Dai Li is finished," Bai said breaking the silent, "what are we still doing? The war is over, the people don't need us anymore."

"Hey! Shut up!" Agent Chen rounded on him. "Do you want the whole city to know we're Dai Li!"

"I'm sorry," Agent Bai said quietly, "I don't know what I'm doing anymore."

Before either could say anything else they heard someone coming down from the end of the alley leading to the warehouse gate. They stood ready, hands on sword hilts. Then they saw the small silhouette of a child walking down the alley. Then they heard the tap tap tap of a cane on the packed dirt floor.

"Hello?" a soft voice called out, "is someone there?" Bai and Chen shared a look of concern.

"Who goes there?" Bai said in his soldier's voice. The child was slowly meandering down the alley towards them.

"My name is Ya," Toph lied, "I'm lost. You see I'm blind!" She waves her cane in front of her. She had made it out of a metal railing on some poor sap's front porch.

"Little girl," Chen said with a soothing voice, "this is no place for children. You see, we are soldiers of the Earth Kingdom and this place is off limits to kids." This did not dissuade the girl, he could tell it was a girl from her voice, but instead caused her to come on faster.

"Oh wow!" Toph said with feigned amazement. She was really good at lying if she did say so herself. All these scams had made her an expert at gaining the confidence of dupes like these two. Dai Li agents! She couldn't believe what she had heard. She had thought they were finished after the end of the Fire Nation occupation. She and Sokka had listened from the mouth of the alley, Toph using her earthbending to hear from farther away. They had decided that if these were really Dai Li then they would need to be caught.

Toph was close now. This was the critical part of the plan.

"Are you really Earth Kingdom soldiers?" Toph asked again in amazement, "You guys are my heroes!" Then she tripped and fell toward, hitting the ground hard, or so that's how it looked. She bent the earth to soften it at the last moment. She was only half a dozen paces from them now. Then she gave her most convincing, pathetic cry.

Chen looked at Bai nervously. They were not to leave their posts for any reason but Bai was already moving towards the hurt little girl. He bent down beside her, concern in his voice.

"Are you alright little girl?" Bai asked Toph, "let me see." She sat up and held her face in her hands, sobbing quietly. "What are you just standing there for?" Bai asked Chen harshly.

"We aren't supposed to leave our posts…" Chen began but a withering glare from Bai stopped him.

"Hey, shh shh, sweetie," Bai was saying in a soothing voice, all the guilt over what they had done to poor Private Ling entering his voice. "It's going to be alright."

"I…" Toph began in a whisper. Her right hand touched the ground and felt for her cane. That was the signal. "I know," she looked up at the dumbfounded soldier, her blind eyes looking through him. There was a flash of movement, she sprung up to her feet and her arms hooked into a metal bending form that caused her metal cane to loosen into a long whip and then wrap itself around a terrified and surprised Agent Bai. It coiled around his legs, binding them together, then his arms, pinning them to his chest, and finally around his jaw and to the top of his head, holding his mouth closed.

What the hell was going on?! Agent Chen made to draw his sword from his scabbard but suddenly something hit him on the back of the head and the world fell away into darkness.

Chen collapsed to the ground roughly as Sokka landed behind him. He had used the distraction to climb across the rooftops and leap down onto the unsuspecting Dai Li agent. "Sokka style! Learn it!" he said, louder than he should have. The other agent tried to hop away but he sunk up to his waist into the ground, fixing him in place.

"I love it when a plan comes together," Toph said with triumph.

"Toph, that rocked!" Sokka ran over to her and scooped her up into a hug, laughing at his lame rock joke. Toph's cheeks flushed red and she hoped her bangs hide the blush from Sokka. The big idiot had no idea what he was doing to her!

"Put me down, meathead!" she squeaked out. Sokka put her down gently. He was strong, stronger than his small frame would imply. Toph turned back towards the trapped Dai Li agent, turning her face away from Sokka so he couldn't see her blush.

"Oh, sorry Toph," he said and she punched him hard in the arm. That was going to bruise, he told himself. No hugs, I get it.

"It was a pretty sweet plan though," Toph smiled and he heard the warmth in her voice. That was a relief. He didn't want to upset her, especially since she could crush him like an ant if she had wanted. No, that wasn't it really, he thought. He didn't want to upset her because he like her. She was like the sister he never had. Well he did have a sister but Katara was different. Katara had always been like a mother to him, she never needed her big brother to look out for her. Toph was more like a little sister than Katara was and it was a big brother's job to make sure nothing upset her.

Toph turned her attention to the terrified Dai Li agent now and he squirmed as much as he could under such confines.

"You! You stay right here!" Toph said waging an aggressive finger at him and he nodded.

"Toph, what are you doing?" Sokka asked, puzzled. They had captured the agents. Oh! He understood now.

"There are more inside," Toph said, cracking her knuckles in anticipation.

"These must have been the sentries," Sokka reasoned.

"Jee, you think?" Toph made a silly face at him. Sokka sighed in response.

"Lead on," he gestured at the gate. He grabbed a hold of it and took a low stance. Then her hands shot out and her fingers sunk into the metal of the gate and she peeled it open. "Wow." Sokka was dumbfounded by the display of metalbending.

"Who's the best?" Toph said with a grin, her hands on her hips.

"I am not worthy, oh great one!" Sokka said with sarcasm but Toph blushed again. Erg! Stupid Sokka, saying stupid things like that!

"And don't you forget it," she said as she led them into the warehouse compound.

The compound was really only a small empty lot that was used to keep wagons waiting to be loaded and the warehouse itself. It was a massive building like every military structure in the Earth Kingdom. On its front it bore the unmistakable emblem of the Earth Kingdom Army. Sokka wondered what the Dai Li wanted here. Whatever it was, it couldn't be good if it was important enough to bring them out of hiding.

"How many are there?" Sokka asked in a whisper. Toph sent out a wave of earthbending to explore the compound. The yard was clear but there were three people inside the warehouse itself. They were all together around something, a big crate.

"There are three of them in the middle. The warehouse is just a big open room with shelving in isles. It's full of crates and the three are gathered around one. If we go in that door," she gestured off at a side door, "then they won't see us enter."

"What would I do without you?" Sokka said and reached out to give Toph another hug. Remembering the last hug he had given her he stopped and instead settled with tousling her hair. She froze on the touch. Oh great, here I go again bothering her!

"Sokka," she started, thinking of what to say. It seemed as though Toph's brain had been scrambled, she couldn't think of anything clever which was a first for her. She couldn't think of anything at all.

"I know," Sokka said, "I'm sorry. I messed up your hair, didn't I?" She leapt onto the lifeline he had thrown her.

"Yeah! Never come between a lady and her hair," Toph said with what she hoped was enough casual distain. Sokka laughed. "What's so funny? Huh?" She turned and poked him in the chest hard.

"Oh, nothing. It's nothing," Sokka said, stifling his laughter.

"No, what?" Toph said, doing her best impersonation of Captain Ya's stern voice.

"Oh. Well, you have to promise not to hit me," he said, "but I just don't think of you as very ladylike." He winced and flinched back but the punch never came. He opened his eyes and saw Toph looking away.

"You're a real jerk, meathead." What was she talking about? Toph was about as unladylike as Zuko! Why was she being all weird about it? Girls. He would never understand.

"No wait! I mean, you're the most ladylike girl in Ba Sing Se. You're the daintiest, most delicate...lady...ever," Sokka said, hoping to turn the conversation around.

"Dainty?" Toph blurted out her voice rising, "Delicate?!" She raised a fist at Sokka. "I'll show you dainty!" She pushed him hard, using her earthbending, knocking him onto his butt.

"See, my point exactly!" Sokka said, not bothering to get up. He would probably just end up back on the ground anyways. "Do you really want me to consider you as some kind of lady?" Toph didn't say anything for a moment and a weird expression played across her face. What was wrong with her tonight?

"Nevermind!" she sighed with exasperation and turned towards the warehouse's side door. "We've got Dai Li agents to catch."

"Now there's something we can agree on," Sokka smiled. At least that was over with, though it left him with questions.

Sergeant Chou had just pried open this latest crate. The item they were looking for wasn't marked on the supply manifest and it had been in a crate marked Helmets. It was inside a small ornate wooden box in the crate. It had taken them half an hour to find the right crate and the three mysterious agents had left with instructions for Chou to deliver the item to their new temporary headquarters.

"Finally," Corporal Fong said lifting out the tiny box and handing it to Private Xing. "Private Xing, go and get Bai and Chen. Then we can get out of here." Xing made to move off but Sergeant Chou stopped him with a hand.

"No. I'll do it. You two watch the crate," Chou walked off without waiting for a reply. He thought he had heard the side door to the warehouse open and close just then. He drew his long straight sword and held it at the ready. He walked down an aisle flanked on each side with stacks of crates. He walked slowly but purposefully, not wanting to give away his suspicion. Then suddenly, he rounded the corner. Nobody there.

"Looking for me?" a young man's voice came from behind him. Chou turned on the interloper, raising his sword in an aggressive stance. He was angry. Angry at how life had turned out for him and angry at himself for what he had done, what he had had to do. No, he had a choice and the blood of sweet Private Ling was on his hands alone. He attacked the stranger without pause. He would assuage his fury by running his opponent through.

Sokka saw the aggressive stance and stepped back, his sword already in his hands. He feigned back and then stepped forward quickly into the kill zone. The Dai Li agent had overstepped in his charge and now Sokka was too close for his stance to be effective. Sokka smashed the hilt of his sword into the Chou's face causing his head to snap back and scream out in hurt. His nose was bloody and the pain was blinding. Chou swung at Sokka and his years of combat experience took over where his blind fury had failed.

Before Corporal Fong or Private Xing could move to help their Sergeant, Toph attacked. She used a pillar of earth to launch herself into the air and came down almost on top of Fong who shot out a pillar of earth to deflect the younger bender. Toph landed a few paces from where she had intended and she came up swinging. Fong had to raise barrier after barrier to protect himself and Xing from the constant barrage Toph was sustaining. Incredible, Fong thought, such power and such endurance! She kept up her perfect form even as a normal bender would be losing focus from exhaustion. Fong was faltering. He was used to fighting firebenders who could not penetrate his barriers, giving him a chance to counterattack, this was different. If he stopped for any reason, she would smash him to pieces.

"Run!" Fong shouted through gritted teeth. "Xing! Get the item out of here! I'll hold her off!" Xing looked back and forth from his sergeant and the bender by his side. "I'm not asking private! That's an order!" Xing's soldier training kicked in and he took off at a run with the small box in his arms.

Toph saw him go but she couldn't stop him. If she relented in her barrage then this other bender could attack her or worse Sokka. Instead she shifted her attack, forming a huge wave of earth that rolled towards Chen. He was launched into the air but he kept his footing, embedding his feet into the earth itself. Now was his chance! He turned the rolling wave of earth with all his might and sent it back at his young opponent.

Toph smirked, she was used to fighting earthbenders ever since her first Earth Rumble. Typical mistake. She struck out under the rolling wave of earth and with a sweeping, striking kata she sank the ground before the wave so that it churned over on itself. The Dai Li bender was pitched forward and his balance faltered. His form collapsed and the wave fell apart. Toph struck the falling man with a stone, knocking him out. He fell to the floor hard.

Sokka was still fighting the Dai Li swordsman. This man was good but he was angry and his ferocity was making him sloppy. Sokka had fought Master Piandao, and this guy had nothing on him! Well to be fair, Piandao had won but still! Sokka swept back and forth, using the uneven terrain of the crates to his advantage. The Dai Li swordsman was faltering on the uneven ground because he was too focused on his sword forms. It all begins with footwork, Sokka thought. Sokka feigned one last time and this time he slashed back at the agent's sword arm. The blade bit into the leather vambrace of the soldier's armor but the blow caused a bone to snap in the forearm and the sword to fly harmlessly out of reach. Sokka moved in and held his sword at the man's throat.

"Don't move! You've lost," Sokka told the man, looking into his sad eyes.

"In more ways than one so young could understand," Sergeant Chou said wistfully.

"Try me!" Sokka said, challengingly. Toph came running up beside him, panting from the exertion of her bending.

"One of them got away," Toph told Sokka, "he took something with him."

"Long live the Dai Li!" Chou shouted with all his might and he bit down onto a false tooth.

"What are you doing!?" Sokka tried to grab the man but he fell to the floor like a sack of wet rice. His eyes rolled back in his head and his arms fell limp at his side. He was dead. "You coward," Sokka said, tears filling his eyes.

"Sokka, what's going on?" Toph asked unsure of what was happening at first. The Dai Li agent had collapsed and she felt no breath and no heartbeat giving his form life through her earthbending vision. Instead she felt something in Sokka, something she felt in him once before during the battle with the Fire Nation airships. When she had thought it was all over, hanging helpless over the abyss. While they had hung there, waiting for the final blow, her only connection to the world was his hand. She had hung onto him for dear life and she heard something in his voice and felt it in his hand in hers. It was a feeling that was so unlike him, it was despair or shame or resignation. It was all of these things and they threatened to consume her friend. She didn't want him to ever feel that way again. "Sokka?" she took a step towards him.

"No Toph, don't come any closer," Sokka stood up but his legs were like jelly. He took an unsure step towards her but he pitched forward. Toph shoot out and caught him before he could hit the ground.

Sokka's legs failed him and he hung onto Toph, his arms wrapped around her shoulders. She lowered him to the ground a few feet away from the Dai Li agent. The dead agent, she corrected herself. What had happened? Sokka didn't, couldn't have done that.

"Sokka?" Toph said, sitting beside him with her arms wrapped around his chest under his arms. She felt his lean muscles through his Water Tribe shirt. He rested his head against her shoulder. She could hear him sobbing softly. She was afraid then. She didn't know what to say, she wasn't good at comforting people just making them feel bad, especially Sokka.

"Toph, I…" Sokka choked out. He sniffed and turned his face up to look at Toph. Her cheek was now resting against his brow. "He's…" Sokka couldn't understand how someone could choose to die. Life was so precious, how could that man just throw it away? He should have fought harder, he should have stayed! She should have survived. Yue. He buried his head in Toph's black hair and started to sob again.

Toph just held onto him. They had never seen someone die like that before but she guessed that there had to be more to it than that. Whatever had happened had brought up something in the young water tribesman that she didn't understand. That didn't matter, right now he needed her help so she would help him.

"Hey, Sokka," Toph said after a time. Sokka looked up and Toph rubbed her cheek against his. His skin was smooth and it felt hot on Toph's. She felt her cheek heat up. Grr! she was blushing again. Why did he have this effect on her? She was the Blind Bandit, nothing phased her! Nothing but this young water tribesman. She sighed.

"I'm sorry, Toph," Sokka managed to croak out. He began to pull away from her but she held onto him. Her arms were stronger than he would have guessed by her size and she held him fast.

"It's okay. We're going to be okay," Toph said softly, barely a whisper. He was always the brave one. Despite not being a bender he always stood his ground no matter what. It scared her to see him like this, well fell him anyways. She felt him nod his head. It was a weird feeling, something she had never experienced before and she nearly squeaked. Sokka felt her apprehension. Gah! He was practically nuzzling her! He stopped and Toph repressed a sigh.

"Thank you, Toph," Sokka said, turning himself to pull her into a hug. He needed to be strong. After all, she was like a little sister and big brothers needed to be strong for their little sisters. "I'm okay."

Toph was now blushing furiously at the contact with the young, very fit, tribesman. She was glad he couldn't feel her heartbeat. It felt like her heart was trying to bend its way out of her throat. Ah! he can feel it because his chest is up against yours! In response to this revelation, her heart redoubled its efforts, and her throat responded by threatening to close up completely. He had he in a deep hug now and his lean, muscled chest was pressed up against her small breasts, squishing them into her ribs. She felt like her face was going to combust right there and then.

Sokka felt Toph tense up in his arms and her arms tightened into a death grip around his broad back. "Is everything okay?" he tried to pull back but ended up only shifting his face towards hers. He looked at her, their noses an inch apart. He looked into her deep green eyes and she stared at nothing. The green of her eyes, washed over with grey was uniquely hers. He had never seen eyes like hers anywhere else and he suspected he never would. Her eyes were pretty. Well, I mean, from an objective standpoint anyways, he amended. "Toph? Everything okay?"

"Eh…" it was a sound more than a word. She couldn't say a thing. His face was so close to hers that she could feel his warm breath on her face. It smelled like fire flakes.

"Uh, Toph…" Sokka said, apparently oblivious to her awkwardness at being so close to him. "You are crushing me," he wheezed. Her hands were now firmly planted on his back, her arms squeezing with all her might. She noticed with embarrassment and loosened her grip but she didn't let him go. His face drifted a few more inches away and she found her voice again.

"Well it's not my fault if you aren't as tough as me," she tried to say it casually but it came out as a croak.

"We can't all be powerful earthbenders, now can we?" he said with sarcasm. His looked at her green-grey eyes and noticed she was staring right through him. Suddenly uncomfortable he looked down instead at her small, broad nose. Cute, Sokka thought to himself. Ah! What are you thinking that for? She's a kid! Suddenly Sokka was very uncomfortable. "We should go get those Dai Li agents outside…" he said at last.

"Oh, right," Toph said. She let go of his back and he let go of her. She could breath again and her heart sank back into its quiet rhythm, its escape attempt having been foiled.

The two stood up on uneasy legs. Sokka's head was fuzzy. He thought about a pair of pretty green-grey eyes and a nose that looked just so nuzzlable then about his friend and he felt like a creep. What was he thinking? Toph was a lot of things but she was certainly NOT pretty! Well she was pretty but not to him, not like that! And what about Suki? She had given so much to be with him, to make their relationship work. It wasn't her fault that she had to go back to Kyoshi Island to help with the rebuilding effort. They were still very much together even if they had been apart for over a month.

Toph was thinking too. She had like liked Sokka for a long time. He was one of the only three boys she really knew and two of them were taken, so she had thought that maybe that was it. Afterall he was immature, oblivious, absent-minded, and scatter-brained. He was also brilliant and brave and funny and he never gave up on anything, especially on me, she thought. She would be dead now if it hadn't been for him. No, her crush was something different. She knew it then, while he held her and she held him. She knew what she had been feeling these last months was something more than a silly crush, she was in love. And she hated it.

The Dai Li agents outside were gone. Someone must have come and taken them. When Sokka and Toph went back inside the Dai Li bender had disappeared as well.

"Well this is just great!" Toph announced to the air. "What now? The Dai Li all escaped," she stopped herself remembering Sokka's reaction earlier. She had felt it in through her earthbending, they had all escaped except one. He was dead.

"We should tell the others," Sokka said with resolve. "Come on." With that the two left the compound heading back for their home on the upper ring.

TO BE CONTINUED...

**Author's Notes: **

Avatar: The Last Airbender belongs to Mike and Bryan and Nickelodeon and whoever else. This is a work of fan fiction that I wrote because I love the world they created.

Sorry if my story comes off a bit stale, I'm not the best with writing dialogue or intimacy. Maybe it's because I'm so awkward? Well anyways, I hope the pace was good and you enjoyed it.

Shout out to **Justthisguyyouknow **because I love his work and I respect the heck out of him! See if you can spot the reference I made to his wonderful story **I'll Walk You Home**. Guy, if you want me to take it out then just let me know, of course.

**Edit: **Hey again. I hate to ask but any feedback is really appreciated! What did you like/not like? What do you want to see more of? Do the characters seem believable and/or true to their original selves?

Next chapter coming soon!


	2. Chapter 2

"How is the stew coming, nephew?" Iroh asked while he sat at the table cutting more vegetables. He turned to watch his nephew standing by the cook pot in the kitchen of the large house they shared with the Avatar and his friends. Zuko stood up straight and his shoulders were back at a cheerful angle. Iroh smiled, he could tell that his nephew had truly seen the light when he had helped the Avatar win the war. Zuko was happy.

"It would be much better if you could finish cutting those vegetables," Zuko said, rounding on his uncle. He wore a broad smile and his words held no conviction. Iroh chuckled and Zuko waved the big wooden spoon he had been using to stir the stew at him in a scolding way.

"Forgive a poor old man for being so slow," Iroh gave Zuko pitiable look but Zuko was having none of it.

"Oh? So you can work fast when its for your customers at the tea shop but you're suddenly too frail to help with dinner?" Zuko waited and watched Iroh with hands on his hips. The wooden spoon was dripping uncooked stew onto Zuko's apron. Iroh laughed out loud then. It was a long, hearty chuckle. Zuko was becoming more like his uncle everyday, though he seemed to be unaware of it. The sullen, angry teenager that Iroh had spent years raising as a son was gone, replaced by a cheerful, perhaps wistful, young man.

"Well, when you put it that way," Iroh smiled, speeding up his work. He peeled the carrots and diced them along with the potatoes and rose to bring them to his nephew. Zuko moved quickly to intercept his uncle, taking the cutting board full of vegetables from his hand.

"Now, now, uncle," Zuko said with false concern, "we can't have you hurting your old bones by carrying something so heavy!" Zuko let out a little laugh that sounded more like a snort when Iroh pushed him off.

"Hey," Iroh warned his nephew, "you had better watch it! You are talking to the Dragon of the West!" Iroh stood and took up a mighty pose.

"You forget, you are talking to your Fire Lord!" Zuko said and waved his hands mystically around as he added the vegetables to the stew.

"Oh boy," it was Mai's voice, "here he goes again with the Fire Lord thing," she chided. She entered the room and made her way slowly over to Zuko before planting a delicate kiss on his cheek. He blushed but pulled her into a loving embrace and kissed her passionately.

"Ah! My old heart," Iroh joked, "it can't take the scandal." He pretended to stagger out of the kitchen, leaving the lovers alone. Iroh like Mai. He had had his doubts but she had seemed to be much kinder and gentler than she let on and she had obviously been good for Zuko and that counted for a lot with Iroh. He made his way into the living room of the house, sitting down by the low table that was covered by his current pai sho game. Where was that young man? Iroh wondered. Sokka had been a pleasure to teach, Iroh admitted, the water tribesman had an uncanny brilliance and he picked up on the strategies and subtleties of the game much more quickly than Zuko had.

Where were the others for that matter? Iroh wondered. Ty Lee had left with that painted warrior girl a month ago but he shared the house with his nephew, Mai, the Avatar himself, the young waterbender, the water tribesman, and the tough earthbending girl. It was good to be in a full house again, it had been so long since he had felt the warm comfort of family so close. Not since he had lived with his wife and son all those years ago. Iroh cleared his throat, it had become suddenly very dry. He looked around for a teacup but there was no way to get into the kitchen to his tea pantry without passing by Zuko and Mai and he was not going to bother them just so he could have a drink.

The front door opened suddenly and Sokka and Toph ran in. Iroh stood to greet them but he stopped when he saw their expressions. Something was going on and he didn't like it.

"General," Sokka said, catching his breath, "do you know where everyone is?"

"Yeah, it's important," Toph said, reaching out with her earthbending to feel around the house for the others. Zuko and Mai were in the kitchen, doing...oh. Toph blushed and focused elsewhere. She had to be careful about where she felt around the house lately. Those two were always up to something and though Toph had become curious, she respected their privacy enough to leave them alone.

"It's just Iroh now," Iroh reminded Sokka, "I have not been a general for a long time." Iroh knew that Sokka only said it out of respect but it was a part of his life that he wished to leave behind.

"Right. Sorry, gen...er...Iroh," Sokka corrected himself. "We have some shocking news for everyone. The Dai Li are back." Iroh studied the young man before him, so different now than when their fates had first become intertwined out on the ice of the South Pole some months ago. The nervous boy, full of bravado and hot air had grown into a sharp young man with humility and understanding. What strange friends fate seems to find for us, Iroh thought.

"Zuko and Mai are in the kitchen, um…" Toph said, obviously embarrassed. "They're...well. One of you go get them," she said while pushing Sokka towards the kitchen.

"What? They're what?" Sokka was confused, "Hey! Hothead! Frosty! Get out here!" He called at them from the living room. A moment later the duo entered.

"Frosty?" Mai gave Sokka a frigid glare, proving his point.

"Hothead? I don't know about all that," Zuko said. He was still wearing his apron. Sokka noted he was acting more and more like his uncle everyday. His skin was a taking on a healthy tan and he was bulking up a bit, probably because he wasn't always stressing about capturing the Avatar.

"Hey Zuko," Sokka said, coming closer and make a show of examining Zuko closely, "I know Iroh is a great cook but you had better watch yourself!" He prodded Zuko in his flat belly. "You are getting a belly, mister." Sokka leaned back and folded his arms thoughtfully. Zuko was fuming.

"I...what?" Zuko spat out, "I am not!" He looked down, examining for himself.

"Hey," Mai said, coming to his defense, "I'll have you know I think his tummy is cute." She said it with practiced sweetness, enjoying the chance to tease her boyfriend.

"What? Hey!" Zuko said rounding on her. Sokka was glad to see the old, easily flustered, Zuko was still in there. "Don't take his side!" Sokka shot Mai a conspiratorial nod and she giggled behind her hand.

"Well, I think you look just fine!" Toph joined in.

"Thanks, Toph." Zuko paused for a moment, "Wait! Ah! You're blind! That doesn't count!" He was fuming now so Mai leaned in and planted a firm kiss on his cheek causing him to blush.

"We're just teasing, Zuko. Come on," she said, feeling his bicep for emphasis.

"Yeah. Sure," there was no hostility left in Zuko's voice. "So what did you want to talk about?" he addressed Sokka.

"Wait until Aang and Katara are here," Sokka said, turning towards Toph. "Where are they anyways?"

"I don't know, I can't feel them," Toph said. She reached out through the whole house, all stone floors naturally, but she felt nothing. "So unless they snuck off someplace, they're on the roof." The roof was wooden so Toph couldn't feel clearly enough to tell if anyone was up there.

"Good grief!" Sokka said before going out the back door into the garden. Sure enough Aang and Katara were up there. They were cuddling under the moonlight but as Sokka called up Aang leaped to his feet with embarrassment, causing Katara to pitch sideways and land ungracefully on her side.

"Oh! Weather! Lovely Sokka we're having!" Aang spat out. Sokka raised an eyebrow. "Wait, I meant, Sokka, lovely sister isn't it? Ah! I mean…"

"Whatever," Sokka held up a hand to forestall Aang from embarrassing either of them any further. "We have to talk. Inside." Aang gulped and Katara, now recovered from her unexpected fall, folded her arms in disapproval.

"Look, if you are going to give Aang 'the talk' again, I swear…" Katara began but Sokka cut her off.

"No. It's the Dai Li. They're back," Sokka's voice took on a serious undertone. Aang grabbed Katara around the waist and leapt from the rooftop to land gently beside Sokka. Sokka looked at Aang who quickly released his grasp on Katara and looked down embarrassed.

"Oh, please," Katara said with aggravation. She grabbed onto Aang's shoulders and turned him to face her before planting a deep kiss on him. He let out a small yelp but quickly returned the kiss. Sokka looked off, finding the wall suddenly very interesting. The lovers stopped kissing and Katara chided Sokka.

"There. Now you two don't have to be all weird about this anymore, okay?" Aang turned red like a tomato and Sokka cough awkwardly. Katara groaned, these two were impossible!

"We should head inside," Sokka said purposefully, leading the way back into the living room.

"So that's what happened," Sokka finished.

"He really did say 'Sokka style,'" Toph groaned. This earned a chuckle from around the room. "I mean, who does that?"

"You say dumb catch phrases all the time," Sokka replied lamely.

"No, my comedic stylings are never dumb," Toph tossed her hair confidently. Sokka fumed and turned towards her.

"So, you're saying the Dai Li is still operating within the city?" Iroh interrupted them. "This is quite grave news."

"You've dealt with them before," Zuko offered, "what's the big deal?"

"Last time they took the whole city over before we could do anything," Katara said, shame coloring her voice, "We lost some friends too." The Gaang sat in contemplative silence over Jet, Smellerbee, and Longshot. No one had seen them since that day at Lake Laogai.

"We need to warn the Earth Kingdom authorities," Aang offered. "The interim government and the army. I sure wish King Kuei was back already." The last time they had seen Kuei he was traveling the kingdom with his bear, Bosco. Aang hoped that Kuei had been enlightened to the lives of his people but he also hoped that the Earth King would return soon and take over the whole messy situation in Ba Sing Se. Compared to politics, Aang would rather have been battling the Fire Lord all over again. Former Fire Lord, he corrected himself and shot Zuko a look. He didn't want to have to fight his friend and firebending teacher after all.

"Well, Toph and I have a...umm...contact," Sokka said with a touch of embarrassment, "in the Earth Kingdom Army so we can handle that!"

"Yeah, we met her while we were…" Toph started to say but she caught herself. Idiot! why don't you just give away the surprise! Sokka had omitted what they had been doing before they went to warehouse. It was supposed to be a surprise birthday afterall.

"Yeah, where were you two?" Aang asked with genuine curiosity.

"Taking in a shadow puppet show," Toph replied flatly.

"Oh! Cool! I love those," Aang said with a wide grin, miming puppets with his hands.

"Aang," Zuko said flatly, "I think she's messing with you."

"Oh," Aang said, "blind! I get it. So where were you really?"

"Well we…" Toph tried to think up a suitable cover story when Sokka cut in.

"Well you see I wanted to test out a theory I had heard about at the library about the geology of the city," Sokka began and the Gaang groaned as his eyes lit up with a scholarly enthusiasm, "You see the geologists at the Earth Kingdom Academy of Science think that the rocks around Ba Sing Se…"

"That's okay, Sokka," Aang cut him off, "really."

"Oh?" Sokka looked at them all with false surprise, "are you sure? Because the theory is really fascinating!" He held up a finger and wagged it in a lecturing manner.

"Sokka!" Katara cut him off this time, "maybe another time. We still have to make a plan, remember?" Sokka's face fell slightly. His plan had worked. Why did nobody want to hear about science around here? he wondered.

"Well tomorrow, Katara and I could go to the Royal Palace and talk to the Governor General," Aang continued.

"And Mai and I can check in with the Fire Nation Consulate, since I have to go in anyways," Zuko added. He had stayed in Ba Sing Se following the end of the war with the reasoning that reparations with the Earth Kingdom would go much faster if he was here in person to ease things over. The Fire Nation Consulate was the diplomatic corps established to strengthen the relationship between the two nations. Plus, he had to teach the Avatar firebending afterall, being only one of three known benders to have learned from the dragons themselves!

"What's this 'Mai and I'?" Mai cut in, "I have an appointment with a couch and a nap tomorrow afternoon and I intent to keep it." She said it jokingly and Zuko gave her a warm smile which she returned.

"Uncle?" Zuko asked.

"Oh my, no," Iroh laughed, "this old man has a tea shop to run."

"Fine, I suppose I can go with you," Mai said with false resignation, "see how much I like you?" she elbowed Zuko.

"I will see what the White Lotus knows," Iroh offered, "but their agents have been busy with rebuilding the network we had before the war."

"Thank you, Iroh," Aang said gladly, "and we can meet for lunch at the tea shop to discuss our findings?"

"Of course, young Avatar," Iroh chuckled warmly, "I will be sure to bake some of those honey cakes you like so much."

"Well, if you insist," Aang said with his best winning smile which got belly laugh from Iroh.

"None for you Zuko," Mai said, prodding his flat belly causing him to look down and examine himself again.

"Cut that out!" he said but his voice was soft.

"Speaking of Zuko's weight," Aang piped up, "what's going on with dinner?"

"Hey! Not you too!" Zuko said with exasperation, then he leapt up, "Oh no! I forgot the stew!" He called as he ran back into the kitchen.

"He's becoming just like you, Iroh," Katara said fondly. She still remembered when he had been their enemy but she couldn't remember the hatred she had felt for the young man who was with them now. It had seemed like a lifetime ago that he had joined their group but it had been only a couple of months.

After dinner Sokka was washing dishes with Katara. The others were sitting in the living room talking over tea. He could hear Aang's high pitched voice and then Zuko's annoyed tone and then laughter.

"I really wish you would go easy on Aang," Katara said finally, "You know how much he means to me."

"I know," Sokka admitted, "it's just weird you know. He's the Avatar and you know what they say about the Avatar...He's a real heartbender." Sokka chuckled at his bad joke.

"Oh no, Sokka," Katara said with false shock, stopping cleaning to turn to her brother, "You don't think he has me under some kind of love spell? What ever shall we do?"

"Hey, you know that's not what I meant," Sokka sighed. "It's just big brother instincts you know. I just worry about everything I guess."

"Well don't," Katara said, hurt creeping into her voice, "he loves me and I love him." She started washing again and they were silent for a moment.

"But he's so young, you know? Who knows how things will turn out," Sokka paused, green-grey eyes and a cute flat nose flashing into his mind for an instant before he pushed it away. "I mean, well…"

"He's very mature for his age!" Katara said. Just then Aang came flying into the room, on his airscooter, holding Zuko's apron over his head.

"Hi Katara, Sokka," he waved as he sped out the other door. A second later, Zuko ran through the kitchen in pursuit.

"When I get my hands on you, I'm gonna bend you in half!" Zuko called with mock anger.

"Some things never change," Sokka sighed as Zuko disappeared around the door after Aang. Then he rounded on his sister, "You were saying?"

"Maybe I'm just immature for my age," Katara said with a shrug.

"Katara, you are the most grown up person I know," Sokka said, filling the drying rack with dishes. Aang could deal with that later. Katara turned to face her brother.

"Thanks," Katara said, "but if you really believe that then you'll trust my judgement about Aang."

"I do, I do," Sokka hesitated, "Aang and you are very happy. I've just had a lot on my mind lately…"

"I think I understand," Katara said, sensing her brother's apprehension. "It's been a long time since you've seen Suki." Her brother tensed up at Suki's name. "Do you still love her?"

"I don't love her any less," Sokka said, "it's hard to explain…"

"You don't have to explain anything to me," Katara patted her brother on the back. "You are smart, Sokka," she reassured him, "but sometimes you need to listen to your heart. And that is something only you can figure out." She pulled him into a hug and he hugged her back. She made love seem so easy, he thought. Even though Aang was two whole years younger than her, they seemed to be perfect together. His mind wandered back to those green-grey eyes and he sighed violently. What was he thinking? What about Suki? They had been together through so much and now that she had been gone for such a short time he was already thinking about other girls? Well, not other girls. Just the one. One who had been with him for as much or more than Suki had been. One who he felt perfectly comfortable to express himself around. Ah! Stop it! he scolded.

"I don't know," Sokka said finally releasing his part of the hug and Katara took a step back watching him with her best motherly look, "my heart is sending some confusing messages." She laughed at that.

"Love isn't a puzzle you can solve," she said lightly, "you can't see all the pieces and the rules are always changing." Sokka laughed at that.

"That might be the wisest thing anybody has ever said to anyone," he smiled at his sister. He often forgot that she was actually younger than him, she acted so mature and so wise.

"Hey Katara!" Aang ran into the room, narrowly ducking Zuko's attempt to grab a hold of him. "Did you know Zuko writes poems? There's a whole bunch of them in his apron!"

"Agh! Give those back!" Zuko dove at Aang but the young airbender seemed to melt out of his grasp. Katara laughed and moved to follow the commotion out the door into the living room. She stopped and turned back to her brother in the doorway.

"You're the smartest guy I know," she said and held up her hand before he could interrupt her, "and if you put your mind to it I know you can figure it out. Whatever it is," she said and walked out, leaving him alone in the kitchen.

Toph was out in garden practicing her earthbending forms. She was confused and it made her upset and when she was upset she would earthbend. Ever since she had first learned to bend from the badger/moles in a cave near her family's estate she had practiced when she was upset which had been often back then. She, the little helpless blind daughter of Lao and Poppy Bei Fong, had often been confused back then. She was lost and alone in the world and despite the best efforts of her parents to isolate her from that world she longed to understand it, to see it. Then she had learned to earthbend and then how to feel the world around her. That had changed a lot but not everything. Her parents still treated her like a helpless blind child and sometimes she found herself wondering if that was who she really was. Her parents often had that effect on her, causing her to doubt herself. She wondered if the others had felt the same thing? Did all parents undermine their children's confidence? Maybe. Aang had been raised by monks so he was no help. Katara and Sokka had lost their mother at a young age and they had been raised by their grandmother. Zuko's family was...complicated, but at least he had Iroh. That wise old man gave some good advice. Toph was happy that they were back together. One big happy family, she thought wistfully.

She sank her toes comfortably into the soft dirt in the garden. She sank deeper into it and shifted her stance, letting her arms bend and flow of their own accord. A shape took form in the earth beneath her like potter's clay. A long, oval shape formed. Then it flowed to grow a ponytail, sorry 'warrior wolf tail', and then the brow and cheeks took shape. Then her hands stopped. She didn't know what the rest of his face looked like. She felt her eyes mist over with unshed tears. She didn't often feel truly blind but here and now, when she couldn't even know what the face of the boy she loved looked like, she felt totally lost. She knew he was handsome, whatever that meant, from all the attention he seemed to get from the girls in his life. That was about it. She didn't know the shape of his eyes, or their color, whatever that was, or the slope of his nose or the shape of his lips, or the angle of his jaw, or the look of his skin, or how it all fit together into something uniquely Sokka.

She sobbed and wiped the tears from her eyes. Then she felt someone come out of the house into the back garden. She quickly squashed the earth she was moulding into the ground, erasing it. The person was Iroh, the old man had a solid walk that spoke of the confidence of a lifetime of tough decisions and consequences. Toph respected Iroh, he always seemed to know just what to say but he never forced anybody to hear his advice. Well except Zuko, she thought with a smile. He couldn't escape his uncle's sayings and guidance. He was lucky. Iroh sat on a stone in the garden, saying nothing. He let out a loud sigh, more to make sure Toph knew that he was there than from the soreness he felt.

"Hey," Toph said without turning to face him. She rarely looked at people she spoke to. She didn't need to face them to see them so she often forgot they couldn't see her.

"Hello," Iroh said warmly, "I hope you don't mind me joining you in the garden. It is such a nice night out."

"No, that's okay," she said. She walked up to the rock and sat down beside Iroh. "Actually I was hoping I could ask you for some advice."

"Ah," Iroh let out a knowing sigh, "of course, young Toph."

"Well, you see…" Toph began. She had no idea what to say, or even why she was talking about it at all! Sokka was Suki's boyfriend and even more he didn't see her that way. He couldn't. She was just a little girl next to Suki, who was beautiful judging by how Sokka went on and on about her. She felt the tears return but she forced them down. She was not going to start crying!

"May I tell you a story?" Iroh asked. Toph nodded. "When I was a young man I attended a firebending academy away from home. It was the best in the Fire Nation, so I was sent off to learn away from my parents," Iroh paused for a moment, lost in thought, "I met a girl there. She and I were very different but...well…" Iroh let out a long, deep chuckle, "I was young and in love."

"So what happened between you two?" Toph asked hesitantly, she didn't want to show too much interest as to give away what was bothering her.

"Nothing. Oh, I loved her and maybe she loved me too but I never had the courage to ask. To this day, I wonder what my life might have been like with her. Of course, I am glad about the way it turned out," he laughed again.

"I see. So you wish you had taken the chance?" Toph ventured.

"Love is like a flower," Iroh answered cryptically, "it can only bloom in the light."

"Wow," Toph said, "that was really wise."

"Of course, it is never so simple," Iroh said as if as an afterthought.

"Tell me about it," Toph sighed.

"The heart is a funny thing," Iroh said, "it does what it wants and we can only follow it."

"Yeah," Toph said.

"Do you want to come inside?" Iroh asked the young earthbender. Toph nodded. "Oh, I almost forgot! What is it you wanted to ask advice about?"

"Nevermind," she said walking back towards the house, "I think I've figured it out." Iroh smiled and followed along.

Sokka woke up in the middle of the night. He used to be such a deep sleeper but lately he often woke up in the night. He grumbled to himself and rolled over in his bed. It was a large bed, big enough for at least three people back at the South Pole. Of course, here in Ba Sing Se everyone had their own personal beds. Sokka supposed it was because it was so hot. He tossed the covers off himself with his feet and onto the earth floor. Aang was sleeping, snoring softly, nearby. With each out breath the young Avatar would move the curtains on the nearby window. Jeez, Sokka thought, he even airbends in his sleep! Zuko was sleeping fitfully in the third bed in the room. Sokka noted that Zuko often had restless sleep, maybe he had nightmares. The guy certainly had enough to fuel his nightmares for a long time. Sokka sighed heavily. Now that he was awake he might as well get a snack, it had been a few hours since dinner after all.

Sokka sat up and looked out the window across the room. With each of Aang's breaths pushing the curtains up and away, the moonlight poured into the crowded bedroom. The moon, Sokka thought wistfully. He stood up quietly and tip-toed to the door. It creaked when he opened it but neither Aang nor Zuko woke up. Sokka made his way down the hallway past the girls' room and Iroh's private bedroom, which was strategically between the two other bedrooms. He thought he heard something coming from one of them but he decided it must have just been the wind or the house settling in the hot night air. He crept to the end of the hallway into the living room, past the pai sho table and to the back door. He slid it open quietly and stepped out into the back garden. The moon was full tonight, the sky clear of clouds.

"Hey there, beautiful," Sokka whispered up at the moon. Suddenly he felt very guilty. He was always doing things like that, treating Yue as if they were still together. It wasn't fair for her or for Suki. Gah! Suki, Sokka thought. She deserved a guy who could give her his whole heart, not just a piece of it like Sokka. Truthful, Sokka thought, he still had feelings for Yue, even though she was gone. Maybe Suki knew that she had never had all his heart for herself, or maybe not. Sokka's guilt became worse. A feeling like falling spread through his chest from the pit of his stomach. "What is wrong with me?" he asked the moon. No response. "Yeah, that's probably it."

Why was growing up so hard? Why couldn't he just stay a kid forever? Sokka thought bitterly. Well, there are perks to growing up and having a girlfriend. He blushed. Suki and he had done some of those things while they had been together during the last weeks of the war. Suki was beautiful, there was no doubt about it. She had big blue eyes and a long slender nose. Her lips were full and a pleasing shade of pink. She had a strong face, with smooth cheeks and a round perfect chin. It was a different kind of beauty than Yue's. And Toph's, the thought popped into Sokka's head and he quickly squashed it. She is just a kid! She is like a little sister to you! She trust you more than anyone! Gah!

"What am I thinking?" Sokka asked aloud, "It's like I have all these feelings and I don't know what to do with them. Does any of this make sense to you?" No response from the moon. "Why can't it just be simple?" Sokka looked up at the night sky. It must have been past midnight but he didn't think he was going to get back to sleep now. "I'll be right back." Then he went back inside.

Sokka tip-toed back through the living room and down the hallway. He reached the boys' bedroom without incident and winced as the door creaked open. Did Iroh do that on purpose? Sokka wondered about the door. He wouldn't put it past the clever old general. Sokka crept up to the foot of his bed where his belongings were carelessly strewn about. He wasn't living under Gran Gran's roof anymore and he was not going to pick up his mess! He searched around before finding what he had been looking for. He took his sword in its scabbard back into the backyard. He might as well get some training done if he was going to be up all night. He had been sparring with Zuko for the last couple of weeks and he needed every bit of extra practice he could get. After all, Zuko had an entire lifetime of top quality swordsmanship training, being a prince and everything.

Sokka stepped into a clear area of the garden and he drew his sword from its scabbard. He placed the scabbard down on a large rock nearby and then took up a low guard stance. Master Piandao had taught him to use his mind to win a fight and the defensive pose allowed Sokka to plan his attack and wait for an opportunity to strike far better than a high guard would allow. He practiced his footwork, dancing back and forth and circling around. He made sure not to let his feet get crossed. That would put him off balance and offer an opening to any skilled opponent. He held his sword at a gentle angle, keeping the point aimed at his imaginary opponent's throat. He would strike quickly and decisively without warning and return to his guard just as quickly. Sword fighting was a battle of wits, it was a game of pai sho, a game of feigns and probing your opponents defenses. He stepped and struck until he was drenched with sweat. The hot night air did nothing to dry him off and the sweat stuck to his body and made his sleeping shorts cling to his legs and butt. He panted heavily now but he wouldn't give up. He had so much more to learn.

Toph lay awake in her bed. She had woken up in the night to the feeling of someone moving around in the house but it had just been Sokka. She could recognize his unique walk anywhere. He had a goofy sort of stride but she could tell that underneath his goofiness he was well grounded, with a low center of balance. Maybe it came from all that living out on the ice? After that though, she hadn't been able to get back to sleep and now she just lay in her bed feeling Sokka out in the back garden practicing his sword forms. She liked to watch him like this, sword fighting was all about footwork from what she could tell. Each step, or turn, or strike had its own signature that she had learned to read from his long days and nights of practice. The shift of weight, the changes in balance and stance, she could tell exactly how the swordsman was swinging his blade by how the weight shifted between his feet or the turn of his legs. She sighed deeply. She could feel a sureness in Sokka's forms that made her head feel fuzzy and her body feel warm. Stupid Sokka, she thought, now he's even keeping me up at night! She was going to go give him a piece of her mind. No, no. Then he would stop and she didn't want that. She liked it when he practiced at night the most because with nobody else moving in the house moving she could feel him so clearly. Her breath caught in her throat. He was strong, that much she knew, his tall wiry frame was well muscled and the thought of him holding her in his arms made her knees weak. He had held her earlier today. She cursed herself for wanting to hold him in her arms again. He's with Suki! she chided herself, plus even if he wasn't he wouldn't go for a girl like her. Still, what Iroh had said was playing out in her head.

She imagined herself, as an old woman. Bitter and alone, she would lay in her bed at night and feel out for the familiar and sure steps of her swordsman but he wouldn't be here. He would be off having a life of his own and he wouldn't need her anymore. Not like she needed him. Tears began to sting her eyes and she bit back a sob. That is it! she pushed herself up out of bed quietly and made for the door. She stopped herself, she was just wearing her underclothes, her breast bindings and undershorts that she slept in. She grabbed a robe and tossed it on. Her courage was failing fast and if she didn't tell him how she felt now she would never get the chance! She opened the door to the girls' bedroom and it creaked loudly. She wondered if Iroh had made the doors creak on purpose as she closed it behind her and tip-toed down the hallway towards the living room.

She had creeped her way across the living room to the back door. She was steeling herself to step outside into the night when she felt him stop. He was just standing now, in the middle of the garden. Then he walked sluggishly to the big rock and sat down, sagging into it with exhaustion. She could feel the big heaves of his chest and his laboured breath through the contact with the stone. What was she doing here? she screamed in her head, she had to get out of here! Then she felt him speak through the vibrations and she could hear him as clear as if he spoken right to her.

"I do love Suki," Sokka said out loud. The moon did not reply. Inside, Toph's heart sank and she sagged against the wall to keep from falling over. Tears were welling up in her eyes and she fought to keep them down.

"But that doesn't change how I feel about…" Sokka said but paused. He couldn't bring himself to say her name out loud as if saying the name would make it real. "She's my best friend," Sokka said instead, "...but that doesn't change how I feel." Toph's heart jumped into her throat and threatened to spill out along with the contents of her stomach all over the living room floor. She dared to hope, despite herself, that he was talking about her. He couldn't be, she thought, how could he choose her over Suki? But he had said 'his best friend' and he had said 'she' and he certainly didn't mean Katara, so that only left her and Mai. There had to be some other explanation though, he didn't say how he felt? Maybe he was talking about something else entirely? Toph's head was swimming and she had to sit against the wall before she fell down. Gah! What was he doing to her? She had never felt like this before. The chilling, gut wrenching apprehension. Was this what love was like? If it was then she didn't want anything to do with it!

"Agh! Stupid heart, stupid feelings! I can't take this!" Sokka called up at the moon accusingly. "What is wrong with me? She's just a kid!" Toph felt a pit in her stomach. She was just a kid to him. A kid. Who was he calling a kid? He was barely two years older than her! She was angry now and her anger gave her the strength to stand back up. I'll show that sonofabitch who is a kid!

"But I think I like her," Sokka said with a deep sigh. "What is wrong with me? Huh? Why me?" he was getting louder and he knew it. He just couldn't control his voice. It wasn't fair! Why did his stupid heart have to make things so complicated? Why couldn't he just love one stupid girl at a time?! At first he had thought it was just because he wasn't over Yue but now...now what excuse did he have? Was he some kind of freak? He didn't understand. Then he heard it. He spun around and fell off the rock as the door opened and a furious Toph stepped out into the garden.

"You!" her voice came out as a raspy whisper. Had she heard him? Was she listening all along? Oh no! She must think he was some kind of sicko!

"Toph," Sokka began but his clever mind failed him and he couldn't find any words. He had no way out so instead he stood up, readying himself for whatever came next. She came at him with purposeful strides and he flinched reflexively as she stood right in front of him.

Toph had been preparing something to say but it fled her mind now as she stood in front of the young water tribesman. "You," she said, fuming with anger.

"Toph," Sokka began again, "I'm sorry." Then she pushed him, both of her firm hands landing on his stomach and knocking him onto his butt in the garden.

"Sorry?" she began, "sorry for what?" was all she could say. Sokka just sat there looking up at her now. Her hair was down, it was long and jet black and it tossed about with her animated speech. Gah! Even in this horrible situation he was still checking her out! He looked down instead but his eyes landed on the hem of her robe as it flapped about in the warm night breeze. Finally he just closed his eyes.

"I know we're friends and I don't want to make things weird between us but…" he choked out but she interrupted him.

"Weird? You've already been doing enough of that!" she spat at him. He didn't understand, what had he done? "You and your...your stupid arms!" What was she talking about? "And your sword...stuff!" What? If Sokka had been confused before now he was totally lost.

"What are you talking about?" Sokka said, still sitting but now looking up at her again.

"I like you!" Toph blurted out. "Okay? Are you happy now? I said it!" Sokka didn't say anything for a moment but Toph felt his heartbeat speed up. It had been going faster ever since she had come out but now it felt like it was going to jump right out of his chest.

"Toph," Sokka said, barely a whisper. "I'm with Suki." His voice was low and hoarse as if he had been yelling all night. Toph's heart dropped into her gut and she felt dizzy. She fell ungracefully onto the rock, laying there facing up to the sky with her legs hanging over the edge, her feet still on the ground. Then she began to cry. She tried to hide it but she couldn't keep it down. Deep sobs wracked her whole body and she felt as if she was going to die. She had done it. She had spilled her feelings and all he could say was that he was with someone else. Why had she done it? So stupid, she chided herself. Then she felt something. Sokka moved and sat up beside her on the rock.

"Come here," Sokka said softly and despite herself she leaned up and let him scoop her up into his arms. Her face buried into his bare chest and her arms wrapped around his waist. He held her up, his hands around her shoulders, his chin resting on the top of her head. She felt so warm and her tears streamed down his chest. He held her like that for a moment. She was breaking his heart. He couldn't stand to see her like this. She was always so strong, so sure of herself. Now, she was showing him a vulnerable side of herself that he didn't even know she had and he wanted desperately to make it better, to bring back the Toph he knew. The Toph that he...loved?

"Sokka, I…" she choked out between sobs.

"Toph," he began, not knowing what to do but having to do something, "I'm with Suki...but I have feelings for you too." He used one of his hands to lift her face so that she looked up at him with her green-grey eyes. For once they seemed to look right at him. He leaned in and her breath caught in the back of her throat. He brought his face close to hers and she could feel his hot breath on her face until his face was an inch away. Then she felt something on her nose, it was a warm feeling. Something rubbing against it. She realised with shock that it was his own nose. Her cheeks felt like they would melt off they were so red. His nose was broad and flat, she could feel the outline of if as it rubbed back and forth across hers. So that's what his nose looks like, was the only clear thought she could take out of the mess of emotion that was her brain. After a few seconds he pulled his nose away, his face still only an inch from hers.

She could breathe again, her mind was racing.

"So what does that mean?" she asked timidly.

"I don't know," he said and he rested his chin on her forehead, pulling her back into a fierce hug. Toph gave a long and deep sigh and buried her face into his bare chest.

"You have a cute nose," she said, her voice gaining back some of its naturally confident timbre.

"You have beautiful eyes," he found himself saying.

"I do?" her voice was colored with anxiousness and fear. She had no idea what her eyes looked like.

"Yes. They're like no others in the whole world," he said again without thinking. What was he doing? What was he saying? He didn't know but it felt so good to say he had to keep going. It felt as if an ostrich/horse had been seated on his chest the whole night and now it was finally getting off. "Their uniquely Toph."

"Is that good?"

"It's the best." He lifted his chin off of her forehead and looked at her. "You are beautiful, Toph." She was blushing profusely now and Sokka couldn't help but think it was cute. He realised that he must have been blushing too because his cheeks were glowing like furnaces. The realisation that the girl was wrapped around his bare chest sent goosebumps up his spine. Her robe was fine and thin and he could feel the outline of her form against his body. She had narrow but powerful shoulders and small perfect breasts on her slender but toned torso that squished up against his midsection. He gulped.

Toph could feel that his breathing and heartbeat had changed. It was like it had been when they were at the tavern with that captain woman. The same as when he was around Suki or Ty Lee. What did it mean?

"Sokka, are you alright?" she asked apprehensively. Oh great! he thought with horror. She can feel you getting turned on! Ah! Think about dead moose-lion cubs, uh, kickball, kickball, uh, Gran Gran in the bath, ah! Toph felt his heartbeat slow and his breathing become more regular.

"I'm fine," Sokka managed to say.

"So, what now?" she asked.

"I don't know," he replied after a moment's pause. She held onto him and he held onto her and they hugged for what seemed like forever. She was still nervous, after all she didn't know what would happen between them but at least she knew that he felt something for her. That was enough to have made the whole night worth it. Her heart soared and it threatened to carry her off into the night sky. Sokka felt good, like things were becoming clear even though they were becoming anything but. He had confessed his strange feelings for Toph and instead of creeping her out she had returned his affection. But what about Suki? he thought with disgust with himself. For better or worse, he knew that his feelings for the little blind bender were real and whatever happened he would find a way to make it work.

"So," she said, her voice regaining its usual confidence, "what else about me is beautiful?" Sokka gulped again but his voice came out clearer than he expected.

"Where should I start?" he laughed and the laugh rang out clear into the night. It felt good to laugh and Toph laughed too. "Well, everything really."

"That sounds like B.S. answer to me," she looked up at him and fixed him with her best Blind Bandit glare. Sokka smiled nervously.

"Your nose," he began, "and your ears."

"My ears?" she asked incredulously.

"Cuter than mine anyways," Sokka said softly. Before he knew it Toph had reached out and grabbed his ear in her hand. She pawed it appraisingly, like a butcher testing a cut of meat by touch. Then her hand moved down across his cheek. Her hand was calloused and rough but her touch was gentle and it felt good. Her strong fingers traced the outline of his cheek and then his jaw and his chin. Her breath caught in her throat again. So that was what handsome mean, she thought.

"You aren't so bad yourself," she said nonchalantly, giving him a wide evil grin.

"You feel up a lot of faces, then?" Sokka shot back. Toph blushed and pulled her hand away from his face at that.

They sat there for a long time as the moon set in the sky and the dawn colored the horizon a brilliant orange and pink.

"We should probably head back inside," Sokka said at last, not wanting the night to end.

"What about…" Toph began uncertainly. Us? she wanted to ask but she was afraid of the answer.

"I like you Toph," he said, "but we will have to see. I'm still with Suki and she deserves more than me sneaking around behind her back." Toph felt her chest get tight again.

"I understand," she managed to say.

"But I promise you, I'll work it out," Sokka offered weakly. He meant it but he could see no way out other than to break one of the girls' hearts. Then Toph did something unexpected.

"Well, in case you do work it out," she said and holding his face for guidance, leaned up and planted a ginger kiss on his smooth cheek.

"Ha," it was a sound more than a word from Sokka. He slouched over as his muscles gave out on him. His head was dizzy and he had to turn his attention back to kickball and bathing grannies before the situation became more awkward.

Then they snuck back inside. In an hour the house would be abuzz with activity again and they would have to see how things went.

**Author's Notes:**

Thanks for reading! This chapter is lots of fluff but I hope that's what you are here for. Next chapter will have more action with the Dai Li so stick around for that!

I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I hope the dialogue wasn't too much or too sappy. Like I said, I'm awkward.

Did you like everyone teasing Zuko? I felt like that's how it would have gone down between the Gaang.

So Toph and Sokka have told each other how they really feel but there are still obstacles in their way and things are going to be weird between them for a while! We've all had a night that we didn't feel embarrassed about until the next morning, right?

**To zulfi:** Thanks for your input! :) I'm glad you liked the humor, since I wasn't sure if the delivery ever sounds right when I'm writing, you know? Also I hope the conspiracy isn't too lame when it's all revealed.


	3. Chapter 3

"Here you go," Iroh said, handing Sokka a cup of freshly brewed jasmine tea.

"Thanks," Sokka replied absentmindedly. He seemed tired and worn out. Bad dreams perhaps? Iroh wondered as he served the rest of the Gaang breakfast. Sokka was thinking about last night. This morning? It had only been an hour since he had seen Toph but his mind had been racing non-stop since. He replayed the encounter over and over in his head and each time his memory would change another little detail here or there and the whole meaning of the night would change drastically in his head.

He had told his best friend that he liked her and what's more, she returned his feelings. No, that wasn't it. He had told her what a sicko he was and she had been too freaked out to respond honestly. Soon, she would come into the kitchen, her bags packed, and then she would be gone out the door. No, that wasn't it. She was just a naive young girl and he had seduced her. He had tricked her and she was probably crying her eyes out in her room right now. His heart sank at the thought of Toph crying again.

"Sokka, you okay?" it was Zuko. Sokka looked up at the table. So far it was only Aang, Zuko, and himself with Iroh serving tea and cereal. The girls always took a bit longer to get ready in the morning than the boys did.

"Oh, yeah," Sokka replied unconvincingly, which earned him a look from Zuko.

"Well, if you need to talk," Zuko offered.

"Thanks," Sokka said finally. "Girl troubles, you know how it is."

"That's rough, buddy," Zuko shrugged and went back to his breakfast. He smelled his jasmine tea with relish. It wasn't as good as oolong by a long shot but he didn't want to trouble his uncle with making a separate pot. He would just have to brew himself some afterwards.

Aang sat eating, oblivious to Sokka's turmoil. Momo was awake too and he crawled on Aang's head to perch while Aang handed the lemur pieces of cornflake to snack on.

"Hey, Sokka," Aang asked, his eyes on Momo, "so what do you think is behind his conspiracy anyways? I mean, the war is over and the Dai Li are finished, right?"

"That's just it," Sokka said, glad to be able to focus on something else for a change, "We foiled them at Lake Laogai but we don't know if that was their only base in Ba Sing Se. Maybe they even have hideouts all over the Earth Kingdom."

"Do you really think they're coming back?" Aang wondered, "What could they want?"

"Who knows," Sokka said, "maybe they are trying to take out the Fire Lord and breakdown relations between the two nations." Zuko shot Sokka a cocky glance.

"I'd like to see them try," Zuko said with a smile.

"Hey, if that's all it is, then I wouldn't worry," Sokka said, "there isn't a bender alive that could take on Team Avatar!" He patted Aang on the back hard which caused him to choke on his breakfast. "But I'm not so sure that that's what's going on. I mean, they stole something from that Earth Kingdom Army warehouse...I bet that's the key."

"What do you think it was?" Aang asked, getting wrapped up in the intrigue.

"I have no idea," Sokka answered, "and the box was thick enough wood that Toph couldn't tell what was inside." At the mention of the earthbender's name he felt his cheeks redden and he looked down. To the others it just looked like he was lost in thought.

"Well, whatever it is," Aang said, "I know we'll figure it out." He sounded so sure, so confident. It's not fair, Sokka thought, Aang and Zuko both had straightforward love lives. Not a care in the world!

"I'm sure we have nothing to worry about," Zuko said, "I mean you guys were always foiling my plans without a hitch, right?" Aang laughed and Zuko joined him. They had become fast friends.

The girls came in to the kitchen together and Sokka wondered if they all waited for each other to get ready before coming out for breakfast. That would be stupid, he thought, the guys had to fight every morning to be the first one to the table to get some chow before it was all gone. Katara came in, followed by Mai, and finally Toph. Toph, Sokka thought, she showed no signs that anything had even happened last night beside a general air of tiredness about her. Sokka felt a lump in his throat, maybe she just wanted to forget the whole thing.

"You guys better have left us some food," Katara chided but Iroh had already filled three extra bowls which he handed to them as they sat down. "Thank you, Iroh."

"You are very welcome," Iroh said, "serving up food and drink is my great passion." Iroh chuckled and Katara gave him a warm smile. Zuko was lucky to have such a kind man for a father-figure. "And how are you this morning?"

Katara and Iroh exchanged small talk while everyone else ate and listened. Toph wasn't very hungry. She played the last night's events over and over in her head. She had been totally out of control! She had basically forced herself on him, pawing his face with her dirty mitts! And she had kissed him! She recalled the kiss, her memories twisted by doubt, as her basically attacking him while he tried to get away from her. Ah! he must think I'm a freak! And she had cried in front of him too. She gritted her teeth. No, it was her fault. What right did he have to make her feel this way? Telling her that he liked her but that he was with someone else. So sorry, Toph, he said in her head, I like you but I like Suki a heck of a lot more! Ha! Whatever, all the girls like me so I don't even care that I'm your first crush. Idiot, she thought, how could he be so careless? What was she going to do now? She could feel him across the table from her, eating his breakfast like nothing had happened. The strange excitement she had felt in him the previous night was absent this morning. Maybe he was trying to forget all about it. Not Toph, it was all she had been thinking about.

"So, is everyone clear on the plan?" Aang asked as they finished eating. The Gaang nodded in turn, even Toph and Sokka. "Okay then, yip yip!" Aang leapt to his feet and Katara followed him out into the living room. Zuko and Mai began clearing the plates while Iroh left to open his tea shop. That just left Toph and Sokka sitting at the table in silence.

"Are you two just gonna sit there all day?" Mai asked, picking up the bowl from in front of Toph.

"Huh?" Toph replied. Mai gave her a long sigh.

"You," she said pointing at Toph, "you," she pointed at Sokka who seemed equally scatterbrained this morning, "o-u-t." She spoke with condescending slowness.

"Oh, right," Sokka stood up.

"Yeah, on it," Toph stood as well.

"Well, off with you then," Mai said pushing them out the door into the living room. There! She turned to Zuko and hugged him from behind, luxuriating in the scent of him and the feeling of his powerful, broad shoulders against her breasts. "I thought they would never leave!"

Out in the living room, Sokka and Toph stood stock still saying nothing for a minute or two.

"Um," Sokka began but he couldn't think of the right words.

"Yeah," Toph said, unsure. Then she settled on something well practiced and punched the stupid water tribesman in the arm, hard.

"Ow," Sokka said accusingly. He breathed a sigh of relief. Things couldn't be that bad.

"Well," Toph said, her confident voice was comforting to Sokka, "are we gonna stand here all day or get moving?"

"Gotcha," Sokka said, his legs finally working again, "let's get a move on." He led the way out the front door into the busy streets of Ba Sing Se.

"This is a nightmare," Captain Ya said at last, "and that's with a capital F. Yep, a real fu-" a cough interrupted her. It was Lieutenant Ji of First Platoon.

"The report ma'am," he said, handing her a clipboard. His head was pounding from last night and he spoke gingerly.

"Thank you, lieutenant," she said softly. Truth be told her own head hurt. Why did she always drink so much? She quickly read the report and digested the information. Over a dozen dead, most from First Squad, Second Platoon, Lieutenant Hong's men. Hong stood stiffly at the far side of the company's command tent. If he was feeling the effects of last night's trip to the tavern than he was not showing any of it through his grim face or stiff posture. Then there was the matter of the missing men from Second Squad. Had they been taken or had they turned traitor? She dearly hoped it was the former, since traitors in their midst would bring dishonor to the whole company and bring them all under the suspicion of the military police. Finally, she said, "Do we know what was stolen?"

"No, ma'am. The manifest lists nothing out of the ordinary," Lieutenant Ji was leading the internal investigation before the military police could come in and make a mess of things. "Permission to speak freely, ma'am." Captain Ya nodded to her subordinate. "The damn spooks probably put something in off the books. Whatever it is, we'll never know."

"Agreed," Captain Ya didn't like her men dying and she liked them dying for the sake of some clandestine cluster-. A voice from outside the tent's door flap interrupted her train of thought.

"Captain, there are two children here to see you," her aide, Sergeant Mei, called into the tent.

"Hey! Who are you calling children!" the uneven voice of a teenaged boy could be heard from outside.

"Let them in, sergeant," Captain Ya called out and the unlikely duo entered her tent. "What is it?" she tried to come across as civil but her temper was flaring.

"We have information about the warehouse," Sokka said, and gauging by the captain's reaction he had guessed that they already knew.

"What? Who told you about that?" Captain Ya asked hastily, she couldn't afford this information leaking to the public. The war was over and now a dozen of the Earth King's own soldiers were dead right here in the capital. It would mean panic!

"We were there," Toph spoke up, "we heard something on our way home last night and we decided to check it out."

"Are you the one who tore up my warehouse floor?" Captain Ya asked, her temper cooling. That was some impressive earthbending. Better than a two-bit corporal bender was capable of. Toph snorted and rolled her eyes.

"That was nothing! You should see me when I'm angry," Toph said. The captain chuckled. She liked this kid, she was a real firebrand.

"So what happened?" Captain Ya gestured to two seats and Toph and Sokka sat down before telling her of the night's events.

"And he really said 'Sokka style?'" Captain Ya asked with a smirk.

"Oh yeah," Toph said, "he's got a million of 'em."

"I'll bet," the captain looked Sokka over appraisingly. He was certainly young but he was handsome. Maybe you should ask him to the harvest dance? she chided herself, focus on the investigation! "Is that everything?"

"Yes," Sokka said, his tone all business, "we were hoping you could tell us what it was they were after." He reminded Captain Ya of a boy on his first day of work at his father's business, trying to act the way he thinks is expected of him. She almost chuckled.

"The Dai Li," Captain Ya mulled the words around in her mouth like chewing bitter medicine. "I suppose it was just a matter of time...we never knew just how deep the network went. How many agents there were. And sleepers here in Eel-Hound Company? Bah." Things were looking bad. What could she do? The spooks from military intelligence would be all over the case and her company would be restricted to barracks while they were under investigation. Then she got an idea. It wasn't a good idea, but it was the best she had. "You two," she began.

"What's the plan, chief?" Sokka asked eagerly. He loved mysteries and this one was shaping up to be a real doozy!

"If the Dai Li are involved we'll need to report that to military, lack of, intelligence," she and her subordinates spat at the mention of the spooks. "And they, in their gratitude, will keep us under house arrest. That means you two will need to carry out the investigation for us."

"Really?" Sokka asked, excitement tinging his voice. Captain Ya nodded.

"You and the Avatar, preferably," she said, "I'll feel a lot more at ease to know that you are all on the case."

"Right, of course," Sokka's face fell a bit at that last, "the Avatar is warning the Governor General now. We're meeting up at lunch to devise a plan of action."

"Well, it's early yet," Captain Ya said in her best officer's tone and the two civilians straighten in their seats, "you had better get investigating!"

"Right, chief," Sokka brightened at this and his voice took on a deeper set, "Any leads?"

"Yeah, we can totally handle it," Toph said, crossing her arms confidently.

"Well, we know that half of Second Squad were Dai Li agents, and we have the other half of the unit here under guard. You could start by talking to them and see if they are part of this. If not, see if they might know where the traitors would go," Captain Ya said, "well, what are you waiting for? Get on it!"

"Yes, ma'am," Sokka said, standing and giving his best impression of a salute. His form was not bad, but his hand was turned the wrong way. Like we're some wet water navy pansies, Captain Ya said, returning a crisp, proper salute.

"You can could on us," Toph said standing, instead of a salute she touched her index and middle finger to her forehead and mimed wiping something diagonally off her forehead. The two turned and made to leave.

"Wait," Captain Ya said, writing something for them on a scroll, "this is a letter of authorization from me, it tells my men that they are to help your investigation any way they can." She handed the note to Sokka, who nodded seriously.

"You got it," Sokka said, "we won't let you down."

"Well at least I won't," Toph said and punched the young tribesman in his arm.

"I'm sure you won't," Captain Ya said, "both of you." With that they were gone.

Toph and Sokka stepped out of the command tent into the complex of army tents that made up the camp ground. They stood there for a moment, the energy that the captain had put into them evaporating as soon as they were forced to be alone again. They had walked the whole way here in silence and now that silence descended heavily upon them again. Why doesn't she say something? Sokka wondered, annoyed at the silent treatment. Why won't he talk? Toph thought sullenly, the idiot's always got something to say and now he didn't say a word.

What if that's it for us? Toph wondered, what if it never goes back to normal? Had she forced her best friend away just because of a stupid crush? Her cheeks became flush with color and she turned away from the young water tribesman. Her fists were clenched and her short nails dug painfully into her palms.

What is she doing? Sokka wondered. He should have switched places with someone else, he thought, he was forcing her to be around him when she obviously wanted to be anywhere else. Why couldn't he have just kept his stupid mouth shut? Why did he have to tell her that he liked her? Sokka suppressed a groan. And what about Suki? It wasn't like he could even be with Toph. Gah! 'Be with her'?! His face colored. What was he talking about 'being with her' for? She was so young, so innocent. He felt miserable.

"Let's go," Toph said finally, earthbenders faced things head-on after all. She led the way down the rows of tents and Sokka could only follow behind.

Eel-Hound Company, like the other units of the Fifth Earth Kingdom Army, was stationed in Ba Sing Se to keep the peace. They were bivouacked in a public park in the middle ring of the city, their tents lined up in orderly rows. There was only one earthen building, obviously bent by the army's earthbenders, a one storey windowless rectangle that served as the prison. Inside the holding cell was the six remaining members of Second Squad, under the watchful guard of four corporals, all earthbenders, and one very irate sergeant.

"And just who are you?" the sergeant spat at the two kids who had come intruding.

"We're here from Captain Ya," Sokka murmured.

"What? Hw-what?" the sergeant yelled into Sokka's face. "Speak up, boy! I can't hear you!"

"We're here from Captain Ya," Sokka reached for the letter in his pocket.

"What are you doing now, boy?" the sergeant shouted, his face a few inches from Sokka's face.

Hey!" Toph yelled, "chill out!" her voice was booming in the small space of the prison and it deflated the irate sergeant, who took a step back in astonishment. She held out her hand for the letter and Sokka placed it in her hand, careful not to let their hands touch. Toph then held out the letter which the sergeant took and read.

"Right then," the sergeant said unapologetically, "you have five minutes. They're right over there," he gestured towards the misfit soldiers sitting on a bench in the holding cell. They had watched the whole scene play out and they watched the little girl shout down Sergeant He as if he was some buck private straight out of basic.

"Hold this," Toph said taking the scroll back and handing it to Sokka who accepted it wordlessly. Then Toph took up a narrow stance and held out her hands. The metal bars of the holding cell bent open and the jaws of everyone in the cramped quarters fell open. Everyone except Sokka, he was just so used to Toph's amazing ability that he often forgot that there were no other metal benders. "You!" Toph pointed to the meekest looking soldier and then to an interrogation room to the left of the main area. She could feel from his heartbeat and his breathing that he had something he wanted to get off his chest. She gave a wicked grin from under her black bangs and the soldier swallowed nervously.

"Name and rank," the sergeant had come in with them and he addressed the soldier.

"Sarge, you know me," the soldier stammered out, "what are you talking about?" his pitying glance got a withering look from the non-com.

"Name. And. Rank."

"Rong, private, sir," the soldier sputtered. Toph could feel his breathing relax a little at that. She wondered why that was, but returned her attention to her lie detecting abilities.

"Are you Dai Li?" she asked straightforwardly. The man sputtered.

"What? No!" his heartbeat told her he was telling the truth.

"He's telling the truth," she said matter of factly and Sergeant He looked at her with puzzlement then to Sokka who shrugged as if to say 'trust her, she's got this'. Toph tried a different angle. "The others, where would they go if they went missing?"

"Um," the soldier was sweating profusely in the tiny interrogation room. His heartbeat picked up and his breathing became shallow and labored. He eyed Sergeant He whose grim stare never wavered.

"Spit it out," Toph said, slamming her hands on the table between them. The metal tabletop was imprinted with her hands. Sokka was impressed. She could have smashed the table to ingots if she had wanted to but this, this was to send a message.

"There is this, um…" he looked up at sergeant again and then away, "tavern that the soldiers sometimes sneak off to. The Spider/fly's Web…"

"Where?" Toph's voice was low and calm and it was terrifying.

"The corner of Jin and Wei street in the lower ring," the soldier said, deflating in his seat.

"Thanks," Toph said as she strode out of the tiny room. Sergeant He looked at Sokka with amazement playing across his face before being replaced by his usual unmoveable expression. Sokka rubbed his neck embarrassed and let out a snort before following Toph out.

"Toph! That was amazing!" Sokka said when they were outside, "you were all like 'Where is it?' and he was all like 'oh! Please don't hurt me!'" Then Toph rounded on him, her face full of anger.

"Why don't you go tell Suki about it!" she shouted. Sokka said nothing, just looking at her awkwardly for a moment. Why did he have to go and open his big mouth last night? he cursed himself. If Toph couldn't take a compliment then she was truly furious.

"Toph, I…" Sokka began but he didn't know what to say that would calm the young earthbender before him.

"Whatever," she sneered at him, "let's get this over with!" Then she turned on her heel and took off at a fast walk out of Eel-Hound Company's park. Sokka followed behind her.

"We are disappointed in your performance," the man across the table from Agent, formerly Private, Bai said. The man was young, in his mid thirties, but he carried himself with the arrogance and sureness of a man much older. What can you expect from Fire Nation, Bai thought sullenly. Bai was drunk, and he was having trouble keeping his mind clear enough to speak.

"That makes both of us, I guess," Bai said, spittle flying from his mouth which spattered on the unamused firebender across from him.

"The boss has sent me to make sure you do not disappoint us again," the agent, Mister Zan, said with a level tone. Bai gulped and his shoulders visibly shrank.

"I see," Bai paused for a moment, collecting himself, "where shall we do this?" Mister Zan watched the drunken agent with caution. He had heard that the Dai Li agents were loyal to their organization but he never expected one of them to willingly submit to execution. Pity, Zan thought, I was hoping he would make a run for it.

"This is the place," Sokka said, reading the sign on the tavern. It was a seedy place, the kind full of lowlives and thugs. Just the kind of place that they would have pulled a scam in before last night. He sighed to himself. He didn't want that to end but he felt that things would be very different now between Toph and him. The easiness they had enjoyed was replaced by an undercurrent of hurt and bad conscience.

"Okay," Toph said simply, she had cooled off on the long, silent walk down to the lower ring. "Sokka," she began. He perked up at this, she could feel it in his stance. "I…" she hated to apologize, "I'm sorry. Sorry for how I acted." That took Sokka by surprise.

"I'm sorry too," he said. She tensed up visibly at that.

"For what?" she asked with trepidation. Sorry that he liked her? Or something else? Maybe that was for the best, maybe then they could go back to how things had been.

"If I…" he paused, choosing his words carefully. "That I hurt you." His voice came out as a hushed whisper.

"It's okay," she said not thinking, just wanting the sunken feeling in her gut to go away, "can we still be friends?" Sokka's breath caught.

"Yeah," he said, "Of course." His voice picked up, gaining strength. "You're my best friend, Toph. Always." She punched him then, more out of habit than anything. Then she gave him a hug, wrapping her arms around his waist and pulling herself in to his chest. He felt so good and she felt so safe. He hugged her back and the two stayed like that for a while until a voice broke in.

"Hey! Get a room, you two!" a bitter old woman's voice called to them from behind Sokka. Toph stomped a foot and the old bag went flying across the street to land in a refuse pile.

"You are so cool," Sokka said with admiration, and the two separated.

"I know," she gave him a smirk. Maybe things were going to be okay after all. Maybe. "Let's get going."

"Wait," Sokka said thoughtfully, "we need to make a plan of action."

"Okay," she turned and walked through the door of the tavern, "you do the plan and I'll handle the action!"

"Huh? No!" Sokka called, following her inside, "Toph!"

A barmaid came up to the table where Mister Zan sat with Agent Bai. She was pretty, Bai thought drunkenly, she has eyes like...then he just hung his head. The barmaid gave Zan a look of concern until Zan mimed a heart breaking with his hands and she nodded understandingly and left them alone.

"Well, let's get this over with," Zan said, suppressing the glee that threatened to seep into his voice. He was a good cleaner, not the best of course, but that still came with a certain amount of professional decorum. It was amateurish to show the pleasure that came with the kill, after all.

Bai made to stand when he saw them enter the front door. It was the kids from yesterday! He ducked down and Zan gave him a concerned look.

"It's them! The metalbender and the tribal!" Bai said in a hushed tone colored with fear. Metalbender, Zan thought with disdain, what a foolish notion. Everyone knew that once earth surrendered itself to the fire that it was unbendable by these ditch digging scum. However, Zan had not survived long in this business by being uncautious. He nodded to Bai and stole a glance at the duo who were scanning the common room from by the front door.

Zan waved the barmaid down and she came up to their table, giving Bai another concerned glance. "Excuse me," Zan said with false empathy in his voice, "my friend's ex just walked in. No, no. Don't look," his voice fell to a conspiratorial whisper and the barmaid leaned in closer to hear him. "Is there a back door we could sneak out?" She nodded. "Okay, lead the way."

"That's them," Toph said quietly to Sokka. She could feel the apprehension from one of the men at the table as soon as they had walked in. She didn't know who he was, or who his companion was either, but she knew that he was the one they had come for.

"Where?" Sokka leaned nonchalantly closer to hear her. He scanned the common room which was busy for this time of day. Then he spotted two men, along with a member of the serving staff, stand up. They made for the back door and he and Toph took off after them.

"They see us!" Bai said, his voice growing into a desperate wail, Zan turned to see that the idiot was right.

"Come on!" he said pushing the barmaid out of his way to the ground and he grabbed onto Bai. The two ran headlong for the kitchen door behind the bar counter. Toph and Sokka broke into a run now, chasing them. The barkeeper, a solidly built, gruff looking man stood in Zan's way. Nobody roughed up Li Shu's employees and got away with it!

Zan almost incinerated the fool before catching himself. He had to maintain his cover. If it came down to a fight, his firebending could be the surprise advantage that he would need to win. Instead he leapt forward, striking the barkeeper in his chest, folding him over like a sack of potatoes. The man slumped down behind the bar, gasping for breath and Zan and Bai leapt over his crumpled form and through the kitchen door.

Toph and Sokka followed right on their heels, leaping over the injured bartender. They ran through the kitchen, dodging serving staff and various pieces of cookware as they charged after the Dai Li agents out the back door into an alley. The two men were running down the alley and Sokka drew his boomerang as he and Toph gave chase. They were going straight and it was an easy shot. He threw boomerang and it whizzed through the air but at the last moment Zan ducked and it flew harmlessly over his head. He turned down a side alley and pushed Bai along with him.

"Nice miss," Toph called as they ran.

"Hey! It was a great shot, he just cheated!" Sokka breathed a reply as he ran. He would have to come back for boomerang, since it would take too long to return to him and they needed to follow the Dai Li agents down a side alley. Toph and Sokka turned down the same side alley but the alley was empty.

"Wait," Toph held out a hand and reached out with her earthbending. There! She felt the two men hiding in an doorway halfway down the alley. She pointed so Sokka could tell where they were. This was too easy, she smirked. She lifted her arms and an earthen wall boxed the duo into the doorway. "Gotcha!"

Then the doorway disappeared, it was blown off its hinges and into the building. The two men ran inside. "Crap!" Toph said, "one of them is a firebender!" She slammed her arms down and the wall sank back into the alley ground.

"Let's go!" Sokka said, taking the lead as they chased the duo into the building. "Which way?"

"Upstairs, they went up to the roof!" Toph said, feeling the two become indistinct blurs on the wooden roof. "Hurry! I can't feel them up there!"

"Stop right there!" Sokka yelled as they ran out a stairwell up onto the roof of the four storey building. The Dai Li agents were halfway across the roof and it looked like they were going to try and jump to the next roof! "They're going across! Come on," he took Toph's hand without thinking. She couldn't see well up here so she would need help to keep pace. Toph had been taken by surprise when the young water tribesman took her hand in his. His big strong hand, she corrected and felt herself blush. She could feel his heartbeating faster through his hand and his palm quickly became sweaty and clammy.

"Lead on!" she told him and Sokka took off at a run after the Dai Li agents who leapt off the roof and sailed through the air to land on the next rooftop.

"We're gonna have to jump!" Sokka said, his heart pounding. He couldn't see exactly how far apart the rooftops were but he didn't want to risk taking Toph across with him.

"On no we don't!" Toph said triumphant and a pillar of earth shot out from the building's wall below them and formed a rocky bridge.

"Toph! You are amazing!" Sokka said with astonishment as they ran across the earth bridge onto the next rooftop.

"Yeah, yeah," she said, "let's just catch these jerks!" The agents leapt from the rooftop onto a lower rooftop beyond the building that Toph and Sokka had just come onto.

"They leapt down, hurry up!" Sokka said as they picked up their pace. They reached the ledge just in time to see one of the agents, the firebender, turn to face them. "No! Wait!" Sokka dove backwards, taking Toph with him as a searing gout of flame shot past the ledge and harmlessly into the air. "That's our firebender," he said as they got to their feet.

"Gee, you think?" Toph said, her voice dripping sarcasm. "Ah! Why don't they make their stupid roofs out of earth too!" She could barely see, having to rely on Sokka to guide her.

"Well, actually, it's because the weight of the…" Sokka began before she cut him off.

"Not the time, meathead!" she said and took up an earthbending stance. She reached out and drew out the earthen wall of the building to form a ramp down. Then she made a solid wall of earth at the top of the ramp and took cover behind it, pulling Sokka behind. AS they ran down the ramp the solid wall moved ahead of them, blocking jets of flame that licked harmlessly against the barrier. They reached the end of the ramp when Toph stopped, causing Sokka to nearly crash into her back before stopping himself.

She was tired of not being able to see! She reached out and lowered herself into a powerful stance as she drew her arms out. The ramp behind them came apart and it flew out, spreading like tar across the wooden rooftop. There! Now she could see. Now she could fight!

Zan was caught by surprise by the skill of the young earthbender and he jumped to avoid the rolling wave of earth that coated the wooden rooftop only to land on the thin layer of earth that had covered the entire surface. This wasn't good. Bai was becoming more alert too, which Zan could use to his advantage.

"Spread out! Take out the non-bender first," Zan told Bai whose military training fought its way to the surface of his drunken mind. Bai took a low stance, standard procedure for fighting earthbenders, and he keep light on his feet so he could jump away from any earthen traps beneath his feet. No sooner had he thought it than the ground beneath him snaked up to try and capture his legs. He dodged out of the way and kept moving.

"I'll deal with the bender, you handle the other guy," Toph ordered Sokka who moved to obey. She threw the wall forward and it carried like a high wave towards Zan who rolled out of the way and came up tossing fire punches at Toph. Sokka drew his sword as he came at Bai who had drawn his own. The two met in a clash of steel that sent sparks sliding down the flat of their blades.

Sokka took a step back and assumed a low guard waiting for Bai to make the first move. To his surprise, Bai took up the same low guard. The two men stood two paces apart, their sword pointing at the others throat. Bai stepped from side to side and Sokka moved to keep circling the Dai Li agent. Wait for an opening, watch for tells. Wait for him to make a mistake, Sokka told himself while suppressing the urge to strike out. One wrong move now and it was all over.

Toph threw up thin barriers of earth to block each of the incoming fireballs while tossing out fist sized chunks of stone to keep her opponent on his toes. Firebenders relied on their breathing for power and if she could tire the agent out his bending would suffer as a result. She had to be careful to avoid using too much earth, her impromptu coating of earth was thin and each section of floor she left bare was a blind spot that her opponent could use to hide from her. Toph stepped around, avoiding fireballs, to keep a good supply of earth under her feet and her opponent reacted by circling her. Suddenly she sank into a low horse riding stance and she drew her arms in wide arcs as the floor came alive. Like a net pulled up under Zan, the thin layer of earth rose all around him, threatening to trap him within. Damn, she was good! he thought. No sense in getting captured, he assured himself as he stood straight up and put his hands to his side turning his body into a torpedo and launching himself with jets of fire up and out of the closing trap just as it shut.

"Huh?" Toph couldn't feel where the firebender had gone but she heard him launch into the air above them. Then the bombardment continued and Toph had to shield herself since she could barely tell where they were coming from without being able to feel the bender himself.

Sokka feigned a strike towards Bai's head and when Bai moved his blade up to block, Sokka twisted his guiding hand and his blade twisted around the block and dug into the thick Earth Kingdom armor of Bai's ribcage. The force of the blow was overwhelming and Bai staggered to his side but managed to keep his sword raised despite the crushing pain in his chest. Sokka, confident that Bai had been disabled, overstepped and moved to strike again but this time Bai was ready and he brought his own blade up towards Sokka's throat.

"Gah!" Sokka bent his neck and threw his body right, narrowly avoiding the blade that drove between his raised left arm and his head. Bai pulled down and he felt his blade dig into the shoulder of the tribesman. "Agh!" Sokka screamed as he sagged backwards, blood seeping from his wounded shoulder and soaking his tunic. He felt the strength go out of his left arm so he adjusted to a one handed grip. He was bleeding a lot, he noticed, if he didn't end this fight soon then the blood loss would. Think! it was Master Piandao's voice in his head, use that brain of yours to outwit your opponent. Right, Sokka thought, but how? The Dai Li agent was a better swordsman for sure. Where was Zuko went you needed him? Sokka thought bitterly.

Toph was still being bombarded by the flying firebender. How was he doing that? She had never heard of any firebender who could use their bending to fly except for the ex-Fire Lord Ozai. Maybe it was a high level technique that was only known by a few? She would ask Iroh about it if she got out of this alive. She spared a moment to feel out for Sokka, her swordsman was still standing but from the way he was leaning he was injured. She would need to win this fight fast and help him out! Right, she thought, time to try something crazy. A grin flashed on her face and the thin layer of earth gathered around her until it formed a mound and she pushed out with her legs. The earth beneath her pushed out like a funnel of water and she shot into the air on an expanding column of earth, her shield dropping away to be consumed by the column. The fireballs kept coming so she weaved left and right and the column moved with her. She was flying right at the stupefied firebender now, zeroing in on his location by the spacing of his fireballs. She was the greatest earthbender of all time! she thought triumphantly as she struck out with a smaller pillar of earth and felt contact as it struck the firebender in his chest. The wind came out of his lungs and he fell fast back to the rooftop. The fall injured him and Toph pressed her advantage, diving through the air, the earth pillar following her down like a tornado.

This was it, Zan thought, it's over! No. He was a fighter, he was not going to be beaten by some little girl. He had one more trick up his sleeve. With all his might he launched a wave of fire down the rooftop at Bai and the non-bender who were still fighting. Toph felt the fire wave moving across the roof and she moved to block it. Taking his chance, Zan launched himself off the roof down to the street and he took off at a run. He had failed in his mission but he was still alive and that meant he could try again.

Sokka was losing the fight fast, his shoulder was leaving him weak and his opponent capitalizing on his weakness, striking over and over to break his guard. Then he heard it, a fierce whoosh, and he saw the wave of fire from the corner of his eye. Bai noticed too and he raised his arms to cover his face. This was it for them, Sokka thought, when something came crashing into him from on high. He was knocked to the ground by the impact and he felt a pair of small but strong arms wrap around him before the sun went out.

The fire wave washed over the thin dome of earth that Toph had put up over herself and Sokka. It didn't last long and once it was over she stamped her foot against the ground and the dome retracted.

"We're alive!" Sokka shouted, cheering, "Ha!" he grabbed onto Toph and lifted her right off her feet as he stood up, swinging her around in the air. "That was so sweet! I can't believe it! Were you flying?!" He stopped spinning but he held Toph in a deep embrace and she held onto him.

"Yeah," she said casually, but her voice was shaking from the exertion, "I'm the greatest," she breathed.

"Yes, you are," Sokka said with a heavy sigh. Then a sound caused them to turn around. "Oh no!"

Bai lay on the ground, his exposed flesh was burnt black and his face was blistered from the heat despite his arms blocking the actual flames. His clothes were charred and they stuck to his sickly dry skin. He couldn't move but for wiggling a few fingers or toes. Sokka and Toph ran over to him.

"Hey," Sokka said, "stay with us. Can you hear me?" Bai nodded and groaned.

"We want some answers!" Toph said and made a move toward him but Sokka stopped her with an arm.

"I...the scroll," Bai said, "you…" he was babbling, the pain overwhelming him.

"What? What scroll? What are you talking about?" Sokka said, his voice colored with worry for the man.

"Sokka," Toph said, "I can feel people coming. The fire watchmen probably." She could feel the big fireproof boots stomping up the stairs toward the rooftop.

"Where are they?" Sokka asked, leaning over the man. Bai struggled to speak, tears filling his eyes. He had to tell them, he had to redeem himself before the end.

"Factory," he whispered to Sokka, "on Oma and Shu. They have it there...have to hurry. They'll be gone soon." He stared up at the bright noonday sun and he breathed easy. Whatever came, maybe these two, this tribesman and tiny earthbender, could stop them before it was too late. What had the Dai Li become? Tears filled Bai's eyes but not from the pain of his burnt body.

"Come on," Toph said, pulling Sokka to his feet, "we've gotta go." She dragged him to the ledge of the roof and, taking hold of him, jumped off. The ground in the street below gave way and bounced so they landed softly.

"Will he be okay?" Sokka asked, his voice a whisper. Toph nodded.

"The fire watchmen will take care of him," she said in a soothing tone, "now we need to hurry! Which way is Oma and She?"

"Shu," Sokka corrected her. "It's this way. But shouldn't we get the others first?"

"There's no time," she told him firmly, "we are going to have to handle this together."

"Right," Sokka said, collecting himself, "let's go." He made to go but Toph stopped him by taking a handful of his tunic and turning him towards her.

"Your shoulder," she said, concern in her voice. She had felt the blood when she had carried him down from the roof.

"It's nothing, really," he said, she could tell he was lying.

"Hold on," she said, tearing a strip off of her surcoat and wrapping it around his shoulder and under his arm. He flinched but he kept quiet while she worked. He's trying to be brave, she thought, no, he is brave. She blushed at that but she kept working. "There, that should hold you together, meathead." She turned to go but this time he stopped her.

"Thank you," Sokka said sincerely, "I'm glad you care so much." He mumbled the last part.

"Oh shut up," she said hugging him again, hiding her blushing face in his baggy tunic. Sokka shut up and held her close. His heart was still pounding and his shoulder burned from the sword slash but right now he was happy. Maybe things would never go back to normal, but maybe they could be better.

"Let's get going," he said and she pushed him back with embarrassment.

"Right," she took off down the street and he followed her.

Mister Zan was panting when he arrived at the factory, he had ran the entire way since he had fled the young earthbender and the water tribesman. He knocked, three times quickly, then twice slowly, and then twice quickly again, and the door opened to admit him.

"They know where we are," Zan said without ceremony. Time was of the essence if they were to going to preserve the secrecy of their operation. Their leader gave the order, his voice cold but seething with anger.

"Take what you can, destroy the rest," he said as he approached Zan. Zan took an involuntary step back as the man approached him. He was tall but he was gaunt as if he had lost a tremendous amount of weight, leaving him with sunken pale skin that clung to his skull. His hair was white and hung off his head in wisps like his once thick sideburns. "How?" his voice emanated heat.

"They attacked us, I think Bai may have survived. They may know," Zan said, looking at the floor now. "I thought it best to be cautious, to warn you."

"And yet you let them capture that Dai Li agent alive?" the man's voice was deep but there was a madness to it and the voice broke at times.

"He may have died from his injuries," Zan said, "I'm not sure." The man stepped closer and his thin, bony finger traced a line from Zan's brow down his cheek past his eye. Zan's sweat had nothing to do with the hot summer day.

"Men can survive great pain, Zan," the man told him, his voice sweet yet terrible. "Perhaps, you shall survive yours." He grabbed Zan's head between his hands which heated up, burning Zan's face around his eyes. Zan screamed and the others in the factory went about their tasks, eyes averted.

"This is it," Sokka said as they came upon the factory. They were both panting from the long run through the lower ring. "Are they still inside?" Sokka's voice was colored with apprehension.

"No," Toph said, feeling out with her earthbending, "there's nobody inside." She sounded deflated.

"Let's see if they left anything behind," Sokka said as he pushed open a door and entered the factory. He couldn't tell what it was that the factory made, something that required a forge and furnace. The factory floor was littered with metalworking supplies and scrap metal but nothing that would suggest that anyone had been there for a long time. "There's nothing here," his voice came out resigned.

"No," Toph said, feeling something under the factory floor, "there's something here." She unearthed the cache nearby. It all felt like ash to her.

"They must have burned and buried these," Sokka sighed. That was it then, the trail had gone cold. Then he spotted something in the ash that hadn't burned.

"Wait! There's something here," Sokka bent down, dizzy from the blood loss and the long run, and fished a blackened piece of metal from the ash pile.

"What is it?" Toph asked as Sokka cleaned it on his pant leg.

"Oh no," he said, "it can't be…" Toph could feel his heartbeat speed up and his breathing became shallow and quick.

"Sokka?" she sounded scared, "what is it? What's going on?" Sokka held up a Fire Nation epaulette, he recognized the insignia. It was the mark of Admiral Zhao's navy. The man who had killed the Moon Spirit during his siege of the North Pole. The man who had killed Yue. Sokka felt tears in his eyes.

"It's Zhao," Sokka whispered, his breath hot in his throat, "he's back. Somehow, he's here in Ba Sing Se." Toph knelt down beside the young water tribesman and put a hand on his uninjured shoulder.

"We should tell the others," Toph had heard the story from the Gaang and if this Zhao was back he was going to have to answer to her. Despite himself, Sokka felt hot tears roll down his face and he leaned on Toph for support. They stayed like that for a long time, Sokka's head on Toph's shoulder, her arms wrapped around him.

"Whatever is going on," Sokka said, "I am going to stop him." It came out bitter and full of sadness and it hurt Toph to hear her friend like this.

"It's okay," she said, "We're going to be okay." He looked up at her now, into her green-grey eyes. So was so strong, so sure of herself, and he admired her. He was lucky to have her as his friend, and that should be enough, he told himself. He was lying, but that was a problem he couldn't deal with right now, he had unfinished business to tend to.

"Let's go," he said and she let him go and helped him to his feet. They left the factory together.

**Author's Notes:**

I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Lots of action as promised so next time there will be a lot more fluff to balance it out so if that is your thing stick around!

So after Toph and Sokka's night of confessions, things are gonna be tense for a while. What is Sokka going to do about Suki? I don't really like how a lot of fics either kill her off or make her totally unlikeable, since Sokka fell for her in the first place after all. Nope, Sokka is going to have to make a choice and that means hurting someone he loves.

Was the action alright? If anybody cares, I actually have some very basic swordsmanship knowledge so I hope that comes across when I go on and on about stances and guards and whatever, but since I study kendo which is two handed, I'm not sure I'm getting a lot of the sword stuff right since Sokka fights with a one handed sword. How about the bender battle? This is the first story I've written about Avatar so I hope I'm not boring anybody.

As always, feedback is appreciated! The only way I can grow from my mistakes is if people point them out and I want to improve so I can share the best possible story with you.

**To zulfi: **Thanks so much! I appreciate you reviewing every chapter, it's nice to know that somebody is sticking with the story :)

**To Tonitokkian: **I'm glad you enjoyed it! I will try and keep the laughs coming for sure!

**To Free-Spirited Dreamer: **Yeah, I wanted the story to be kind of different than the usual Tokka so I had them put their feelings out in the open right away and have the difficulties in their relationship come from everything after that and how it changes their friendship dynamic. Thanks for the feedback :)


	4. Chapter 4

"Are you sure about this Sokka?" Iroh said, his face a mask of worry. Sokka nodded and handed the old general the epaulette he had found in the ashes in the factory.

"See for yourself," Sokka said as Iroh examined the small metal artifact.

"This is from Zhao's navy," Iroh conceded, "but it could be from anyone. A deserter from the Fire Nation perhaps? A war trophy brought back by a soldier of the Earth Kingdom? This alone does not prove Zhao was here." Sokka's shoulders slumped. He knew it was Zhao, somehow that slippery wolf/bat had survived the Siege of the North Pole and he was back for revenge!

"I know it's him," Sokka said with a sigh, "I don't know how he did it but he survived."

"He's dead Sokka," Katara said, putting a hand on her brother's shoulder and letting the water she was bending do its healing work. "Right Aang?"

The young Avatar had been sitting quietly the entire conversation. He hadn't even touched his honey cakes, Iroh noticed with concern. Finally, he spoke up.

"The Sea Spirit took him," Aang said, "but I don't know where. I don't think he's dead, at least not how we think of it."

"What does that mean?" Toph asked with annoyance. She hated all this spiritual mumbo-jumbo. Was the guy still kicking or not?

"Well, his spirit went somewhere, but I can't say exactly where," Aang admitted, his eyes shifting with embarrassment.

"So, it's possible," Sokka said, a fact more than a question.

"Well, no…" Aang replied after a moment, his voice was unsure, "he couldn't have come back from the other side. Not by himself anyways." The Gaang fell silent at Aang's ominous words.

"What are you talking about, Twinkletoes?" Toph huffed with impatience, "did somebody go get this guy or something?"

"No, I'm the only person who can go between this world and the spirit one at will and that's because I'm the Avatar," Aang said.

"Well if you didn't go get him then what's the problem?"

"Something on the other side might have…" he looked for the right words, "brought him back to this world." Katara shivered and Iroh nodded gravely.

"You beat him once," Zuko added, "and that was before you mastered the Avatar state. What's the big deal?"

"Nephew, do you forget your time with Admiral Zhao so quickly?" Iroh admonished, "he is treacherous and cunning. If he comes to fight it will not be on even ground. He would need something to give him an advantage before he revealed himself."

"The scroll?" Sokka offered, "whatever that is anyways?"

"What if…" Katara spoke up, clearing her throat. It had suddenly become very dry in the Jasmine Dragon. "What if it's some kind of firebending scroll? A powerful technique that he could use against Aang?"

"That makes sense," Sokka admitted, "why else would he risk blowing his cover to attack some Earth Kingdom Army warehouse if it didn't have something he needed."

"So what's taking him?" Mai asked, her voice cool and composed but Zuko knew her well enough to pick up on the uneasiness she felt. The others turned to Mai who gave them a 'you really need me to spell this out?' look before continuing, "if he has the scroll then why hasn't he made his move?"

"That is a good question," Iroh said with pride, he very much approved of his nephew's choice of girlfriend. "Perhaps he requires some special situation or occasion?"

"Like Sozin's Comet or the summer solstice?" Aang ventured.

"Exactly," Iroh said, "but I can think of no such events in the near future." He stroked his chin for emphasis.

"Maybe he's waiting for something else then," Sokka said, "could he need another scroll to...I don't know...complete the move or something?"

"That's not really how it works," Katara said.

"Maybe it's a place," Toph said standing up with excitement. The Gaang waited for her to continue and after realising she would need to explain herself, she did, "so the firebenders have the sun and comets and stuff right? And the waterbenders have the moon and the cycle of the tides? Well earthbenders don't have anything like that, our power is drawn from the earth which is everywhere. But, there are places where that power is stronger, I don't know why but that's how it is."

"But Zhao is a firebender," Katara corrected, "how would that help him?" Toph shrugged, her face falling. She everytime she had a really good idea Miss Sugar Queen always seemed to find problems with it.

"I don't know Katara," Aang said shyly, "we don't everything about bending. I mean look at Toph, she figured out how to bend metal and Iroh can bend lightning. Who's to say that Zhao hasn't found some firebending art that needs a particular place to work."

"Whatever Zhao is doing we still need to find him and stop him," Sokka stood up from the table in frustration, "and we have no idea where to look!" He paced back and forth with agitation.

The doorbell rang as someone entered the Jasmine Dragon. Iroh looked up to greet the customer but stopped when he examined the woman before him. It was a soldier of the Earth Kingdom Army and from her stance and businesslike air she was on duty. The woman came to the table where the Gaang sat and gave them a short bow before speaking.

"Sokka, Toph," she directed her pointed gaze at each in turn, "Captain Ya has asked for your presence."

"How did you know where to find us, Sergeant Mei?" Sokka greeted the woman with more hostility than he had intended. If she was offended she didn't show it.

"It is a well known fact that this establishment is frequented by Team Avatar," Sergeant Mei said but corrected herself, "er...I mean, the Avatar and his companions."

"Also we serve the best tea in the city," Iroh added with a wide smile, "what can I get you sergeant?" She politely refused with the shake of her head and another small bow.

"Another time perhaps, mister?" Sergeant Mei eyed the teashop owner appraisingly. He's cute, she thought and gave him a little smile. What could she say, she had a thing for silver foxes.

"My name is Iroh. Perhaps you would join me for tea another evening?" Iroh said to the middle aged sergeant. He had to admit she was a handsome woman, well muscled and with an assuredness that came with a long life in the military.

"Tonight?" she offered, "I have leave and I do love...tea." Iroh chuckled warmly and she relaxed a fraction.

"Wonderful," Iroh said, "it's a date."

"Ah! Uncle, pick up girls on your own time," Zuko chided his uncle and they all laughed. It felt good to get even with him after all his 'scandal' this and 'poor old heart' that which Zuko received almost daily. Iroh gave his nephew a loving look. He's is becoming more like me everyday, Iroh thought with a mix of pride and satisfaction.

"At my age, nephew, one must seize the day," Iroh gave a shy handwave which got another laugh from the Gaang and a blush from Sergeant Mei.

"Um, yes…" she said distractedly, "now, back to business. The captain has information she needs to brief you on, please come with me." Toph stood up and began walking around the table.

"Oh that's okay," Sokka stopped her, "I can handle this if you...uh...don't want to come along?" That stopped Toph cold in her tracks. What was he talking about? Did he not want to spend time with her? Was he trying to get rid of her? What was his problem?

"What are you talking about Sokka?" Katara's voice broke in, confused.

"Yeah Sokka," Toph said with as much sarcasm as she could inject into every word, "who wouldn't want to spend the day getting shot at by crazy firebenders with you?" What was her problem? Sokka thought. He was trying to give her a way out, Tui and La! After everything that had happened in the last day and night he would have thought she would have jumped at the chance to get away from him for a while.

"Good point," Sokka said out loud, stroking his chin thoughtfully, "I mean, the fireballs aren't great but the company...forget about it!"

"Come on, we don't have all day," Sergeant Mei scolded as she herded the duo towards the door. Iroh hated to see her leave, but he admitted, he did enjoy watching her go. She turned back just before they were out the door and shot him an appealing look which he returned with his smoothest smile.

"Uncle! Tisk, tisk!" Zuko said putting an arm around his uncle's shoulder, "at your age you should really try to avoid so much excitement."

"What can I say," Iroh said with a grin, "somehow excitement just finds me."

"I'm going to make some more tea," Zuko said, letting go of his uncle's shoulder, "it's been oolong time since I had some!" That was met with groans from everyone but Iroh who laughed a deep belly laugh. Zuko had even started making bad tea jokes, Iroh thought, could he be any prouder of his nephew?

"So," Sergeant Mei asked once they were on their way, "this Iroh…" she tried to be as casual as possible, "he seems like a nice guy."

"He's great," Sokka offered, glad to have something to talk about rather than suffer another silent walk with his best friend, "he's really smart and he's a great teacher!"

"Yeah," Toph added, "and he gives great advice...most of the time." Sokka gave Toph a puzzled look which she couldn't see. She could feel through her earthbending that Sokka was turned to face her as they walked.

"Oh?" Sergeant Mei said, twiddling her thumbs as they walked. Stop that! she told herself, making a conscious effort to keep her hands down by her side. "Most of the time?"

"It's nothing," Toph said with a sigh. Sergeant Mei tisked and for some reason Toph felt herself relenting. This older woman had a motherly way about her and Toph needed to get something off her chest. "He just gave me some bad advice yesterday. It was a fluke, honest. Normally, he is very wise."

"Boy trouble, eh?" Sergeant Mei said understandingly. As the Captain's aide she was used to listening to people's problems and offering just the right amount of advice and encouragement. The most important thing, she reminded herself, is to listen. Toph blushed furiously, what was she doing? Telling this stranger about her stupid crush on stupid Sokka, right in front of stupid Sokka?!

"Well, kind of…" Toph said. Sokka looked away embarrassed now but he listened intently. Was she talking about him? Boy trouble? Sokka had never been considered 'boy trouble' before. He wasn't sure how to take it. Sergeant Mei gave a noncommittal mhm and Toph continued. "I told a friend that I like him but the situation is...it's complicated." Toph was blushing but it felt so good to talk about this that she kept on going. Sokka felt his face turn beet red but he kept quiet.

"Well, does the boy like you?" Sergeant Mei asked after a pause. Toph made a strangled noise in her throat.

"He has a girlfriend," she said at last. They walked in silence for what seemed like an hour but it was really more like a few seconds.

"But…" it wasn't a question, Sergeant Mei somehow made it into a statement.

"But he likes her too," Sokka spoke up, his voice coming out uneven and flustered, "and he doesn't know what to do." Was this the boy? Sergeant Mei wondered, she had just thought they were friends from how they acted around each other. That made sense, she thought, things must have gotten complicated.

"And…" Sergeant Mei made the one word into a statement again, prompting Sokka to continue.

"He's worried that their friendship is going to change. That things will never go back to normal…" Sokka's voice was quiet and Toph's breath caught in her throat. She would never stop being his friend! Didn't that idiot understand that?

"But does he want it to 'go back to normal'?" Sergeant Mei encouraged, "wouldn't he want them to be closer than ever?"

"It's complicated," Sokka said, "maybe he's afraid that he'll hurt her just like every other girl he's been involved with." Sokka found it hard to walk, his feet feeling like lead and the afternoon sun blisteringly hot.

"But he doesn't understand that I'm tough," Toph spoke up, her voice hoarse. "I understand his history and I can take it."

"But if he leaves his girlfriend for you then what's to say he won't just fall in love with someone else?" Sokka said, still looking only at Sergeant Mei. Ah! Did he just say 'love'? he screamed in his head. Love? What are you saying 'love' for? He wished he could crawl up and die but Sergeant Mei kept him moving forward. Toph stopped breathing entirely as her head swam with a torrent of mixed feelings. Did he say 'love'? was followed by 'leave you for someone else'. She had never considered that before. What if she gave him her heart and he fell out of love with her? She had always assumed that once you were together with someone then that was it, they were yours and as long as nothing happened to break you up you would love each other forever. Could people just fall out of love? Could Sokka fall out of love with her like that?

"Does he still love his girlfriend?" Sergeant Mei asked. This was complicated, she thought, she was glad she didn't have to worry about these kinds of things. Her life had seen love and loss but as a soldier she was used to living in the now, because she never knew what another day would bring or if she would be around to see it.

"It's complicated," Sokka said, deflated. "His girlfriend before this one died and he was heartbroken. Then she came along and he loved them both. Does that make sense? How can somebody be in love with two people at once?" Sergeant Mei said nothing, waiting for the boy to continue on his own. "Is that fair to them? Don't they deserve all his love?"

"Love is meant to share," Sergeant Mei said. Truthfully this was beyond the scope of her training as confidant to her commanding officer but that kind of uncommitted kind of answer always seemed to work out. People look for the advice they want in whatever you say, she told herself. He would hear what he needed to hear and he would have to figure it out for himself. After a moment of silence Sokka grunted approvingly, he must have found the answer he was looking for. At least Sergeant Mei hoped so. Toph's heart was racing. She had no idea just how much Sokka hurt, what he had gone through. The guilt and the burden he had carried for so long must have been terrible, she thought. He was her first crush and also her best friend and that made her feel pangs of regret for what she must have been putting him through. What was he thinking about right now? Did he love her? What did love even mean to him? What did it mean to her?

Sergeant Mei watch the two of them out of the corner of her eye. She had taken an instant liking to them that morning and she hoped desperately that they would find a way to work things out. She could only hope that her council had helped not made things worse.

They arrived at Eel-Hound Company's park. Sergeant Mei led the duo to the command tent and called inside.

"Captain," she said warmly, "two kids here to see you?" There was an affirmative noise from inside the tent. Before she lifted the tentflap to let them in Sergeant Mei turned to them and pulled them both into a motherly hug. "Things are going to work out," she whispered to them, "it might seem tough now but things will get better." She released them and, straightening her uniform and coughing awkwardly, she proceeded to usher them inside. She looked up to see Sergeant He by his tent nearby. He stared stupefied that his tough as nails colleague had just hugged two kids.

"Sergeant?" He asked.

"What are you looking at?" she shouted, her stiff demeanour returning. Sergeant He muttered something and turned away embarrassed. He was really losing his touch, he thought to himself, first he gets yelled down by some little girl and now he couldn't even deal with the weird show of affection from Sergeant Mei. He needed a drink.

Sokka and Toph walked into the command tent to find Captain Ya standing and talking with another soldier, one of the men from the tavern last night.

"Ah, good to see you two," Captain Ya said, "I'm sure you remember Lieutenant Ji, he is leading our investigation." She gestured to Lieutenant Ji who offered a small bow.

"Permission to speak freely ma'am," Lieutenant Ji said and Captain Ya nodded, "I was leading the investigation. About an hour ago some spooks," he paused at the blank looks he got from Sokka and Toph, "ah...military intelligence officers, came by and shut me down. They said that we couldn't conduct our own investigation because of some bureaucratic bull-" he paused, changing what he was going to say on account of the kids present, "-stuff. Like they can do it any better."

"Tell them what you found out," Captain Ya interrupted her subordinate.

"Yes, well…" Lieutenant Ji continued, "do you kids know who guards the palace?" They shook their heads. "The King's Household Guard. They are the elite unit in charge of protecting the palace. I think you and the Avatar had a run in with them when you...uh, met with our King Kuei. They wear special uniforms that distinguish them from the common rank-and-file that allows them to traverse the palace grounds. Several such uniforms were stolen from a materiel contractor last night." He let the implication sink in.

"We believe this is related to the warehouse incident last night," Captain Ya said, "Did you learn anything this morning?" Sokka told her what they had found and what they had surmised at lunch. After he finished, Captain Ya looked at him with a new found admiration. These two might be young but they were certainly as capable, brave, and ingenious as many of her own soldiers.

"Amazing," she allowed them the compliment. "So you think that they might need to get into the palace for some special firebending purpose?"

"That's the idea," Toph said triumphantly. Finally, she thought, some recognition for her genius!

"We don't have access to the palace," Captain Ya informed them, "so that means it will be down to you two and your friends to stop the conspiracy. Whatever it is."

"You can count on us chief," Sokka said, giving the proper salute this time. He learns fast, Captain Ya thought appreciatively.

"Yeah, don't even worry about it," Toph said, pointing a thumb at her chest confidently, "they aren't going to know what hit 'em!" Captain Ya smiled at the blind earthbender.

"I'm sure they won't," she said fondly, "now get back to it!" Toph and Sokka nodded and left the command tent.

Outside the sun had become even hotter. Why couldn't it rain in this stupid city? Sokka thought ruefully.

"So what do you want to do?" Toph asked.

"We should report back to everyone," Sokka said matter-of-factly.

"No, I mean about lunch," Toph said, patting her empty belly, "we had to leave before we had anything to eat."

"You're right," Sokka admitted, his own stomach grumbling. "I could go for some meat dumplings, and some fried fish, and some tiger-sea jerky…" he was getting worked up now.

"Hold your ostrich/horses," she held out a hand. "Are you gonna stand there all day or are we going to find some place to eat?" Sokka nodded gravely. Food was serious business, after all.

After much humming and hawing from Sokka, they settled on a small noodle shop near the Eel-Hound Company's park. The shop had an order window that opened up onto the street with a few tables for patrons to sit at under the sun. Toph and Sokka ordered and then sat with their noodle bowls at an empty table.

"These smell so good," Sokka said, wafting the air to better smell his meal.

"Yeah, but they look kind of off, don't they?" Toph joked. Sokka laughed at that. It was good to hear her making jokes again. She giggled and Sokka couldn't help but stare at her pretty smile and the way her nose would crinkle when she laughed.

Toph felt Sokka's heartbeat pick up through the stone chairs and table. What was he thinking about? Was he thinking about her? she sighed deeply.

"What are you thinking about?" she said it warmly and it made Sokka's heart flutter in his chest.

"Just this pretty girl," he admitted. Toph's face took on an expression of false shock.

"Who is she? Let me at her!" Toph said, raising a fist in challenge. That got another laugh out of Sokka. Then he began eating his noodles, they were still too hot so he blew on them and made loud slurping noises, which he had assured Toph on many occasions really helped to cool the noodles down faster. Toph just sat listening to the gross eating noises that Sokka was making. Then there was a particularly loud slurp and a lip smacking sound and a piece of noodle flew across the small table and hit her right below the eye.

"Oh! Sorry," Sokka said and reached out without thinking, "let me get that off you." His fingers gently touched Toph's cheek which immediately warmed under his touch. He grabbed the noodle fragment and peeled it delicately off her face. "There," he said as he pulled his hand back, "perfect."

"Perfect?" she said with the slightest hint of embarrassment in her voice. Sokka was blushing now and he was glad she couldn't see just how comically red his face had gotten.

"Wait," he reached out and with his thumb he rubbed the flecks of soup that had been left behind on her soft cheek. "There." Toph giggled in spite of herself. Giggling? she did not giggle unless it was with evil intent! What was he doing to her?

"Thanks," she said, her voice cheerful. Did Toph just giggle? Sokka thought to himself. A month ago he wouldn't have believed it. A few days ago, if he was being totally honest. But now the thought made him giggle too. He had a stupid laugh, he thought, it was really high pitched and nasally and it made him sound like a dumb kid. He coughed with embarrassment and went back to eating his noodles. This time he was careful not to let any splash onto his friend.

Toph blew on her noodles until she was satisfied that it was cool enough for human consumption. How did he eat stuff that was so hot? she wondered. It was like he had a mouth full of leather, nothing hot or cold ever seemed to bother him. Not to mention all the gross Water Tribe food that he ate. She blushed intensely. Thinking about his mouth had made her think about his lips. She didn't know what they were like, unlike the side of his face or his nose but she wanted to. She took aim by the sound of his slurping and flung a tactical bit of noodle so that it landed right on the tip of his nose.

"Woops," she said carelessly, "let me get that for you." Before he could say anything she reached out her hand and guiding it from his eye down the side of his long wide nose she found the noodle piece. Her calloused fingers felt good on Sokka's dark skin and he swallowed reflexively. She flicked the noodle roughly off his nose deftly and her fingers lingered there for a moment. She took a deep breath and moved her fingers down from the tip of his nose to trace the side of his mouth with her finger tips. Her breath caught in her throat and her chest felt tight like it was being crushed by a hundred tons of earth. She felt his warm breath coming from his nose in short, laboured huffs. With all her willpower, she slowly withdrew her fingers from his face. "There," she managed to say despite the lump that had caught in her throat. "Perfect."

"Toph," Sokka said but he wasn't sure that any noise came out of his mouth. His head was a mess of feelings, he felt anxious, fearful, hesitant, excited, elated, and a hundred other things. Overwhelming he felt the urge to hold her hand. He reached his hand forward and gingerly touched hers before it could move back across the table. His long fingers brushed against her short ones. Her hand froze and her face became a mask of mixed emotion and shock. Well, too late stop now, he thought to himself. His fingers slid down the back of her hand, taking in the roughness and the strength of her, before settling just before her thin wrist. His palm, clammy with sweat, touched against her knuckles. He had her hand in his now. Sokka risked a breath, worried that it would break the spell of whatever was going on now between them. Toph could feel his heartbeat and his breathing through the seat and the table but most intimately through his hand. She had held his hand once before, when they hung off the edge of a Fire Nation airship, all hope lost, resigned to their fate. This was very different. She felt hope in herself, hope for the future and for them. She felt hope in him too. His heart was racing and he was barely breathing. She had never felt like this before with anyone. What was happening to her?

He felt her hand shift under his. Oh no. What had he done? His heart sank as her hand twisted out of his grasp. That was it. He had gone and ruined everything between them. Then she turned her wrist so that her palm was facing up towards his. Her calloused fingertips brushed against the heel of his palm and he felt like the lump in his throat was all that was keeping his heart from leaping out of him. Then she closed her fingers around his, her thumb rubbing gently against the backs of his fingers and their hands closed together. Ha! He wanted to jump out of his chair and dance down the street. He had never felt like this before, he didn't think something so simple as holding hands could make him feel like this. What was happening to him?

Toph held her breath, waiting for Sokka to pull his hand out of hers. Waiting for him to get up and storm off. Then he squeezed her hand in his and suddenly she knew he was there to stay. She shivered and she felt goosebumps run down her back and shoulders despite the scorching heat of the summer afternoon. Her body was hot and cold, changing with each heartbeat. She never wanted this feeling to end. Her hand and his, together. The thought made her light headed.

"I…" she had started speaking before she knew what was going on but she stopped herself.

"Me too," was his reply.

They finished eating, which was difficult with only one hand, and then decided to head back to the house to await everyone else's return later in the evening. They held hands the whole way.

"Attention passengers," a booming voice said, the sailor was up on an elevated platform, towering over the ferry passengers. "Full Moon Bay to Ba Sing Se harbour will be arriving within the hour!" The announcer was a member of the crew but Suki didn't recognize him from the rest of the journey. The walls of the mighty Earth Kingdom capital had just come into view to the passengers of the ferry as it plodded through the strait leading to the city itself. Suki breathed deep, enjoying the refreshing salty ocean spray. She had always loved the ocean, it had protected Kyoshi Island from the Hundred Year War and it gave sustenance to the islanders from food to fuel.

It had been a long journey from Kyoshi to Ba Sing Se but Suki didn't mind. She was used to hard living and she enjoyed meeting travellers and people of the Earth Kingdom on her journey. She had finally got leave to visit the Gaang, and Sokka, for a few days after the difficult work of rebuilding Kyoshi Island after the war. Soon she would need to go back, the Kyoshi Warriors served a fundamental role in the village as peacekeepers and community leaders and it was her role as their leader to help restore the small island to its prewar prosperity.

She sighed, it had been so long since she had seen Sokka. Six long weeks since she had held him in her arms, heard his bad jokes, felt his body move with hers as they sparred, and felt his lips on hers. It would be good to see him again. She played with her hair while she watched the walls of Ba Sing Se grow on the horizon. Only a few more hours now.

The ferry pulled into the artificial bay of Ba Sing Se Harbor, coming to dock along an earthen pier that jutted out into the bay. The passengers disembarked into the busy wharf district of the lower ring and Suki took her first step into the city.

"How do I get to the upper ring from here?" she asked a shirtless man with dark sun scorched skin who was working to secure a line nearby. He turned to see her and perked up at the beautiful young girl who was addressing him.

"It's down that way, miss," he said, pointing down the dock. "You just keep going uphill, you can't miss it!"

"Thank you," she waved and gave the man a smile for his trouble. The man blushed and rubbed his neck with embarrassment. Then she strode off. If she made good time she could be with Sokka tonight.

Suki made her way down the dock and into the lower ring proper. The streets were so busy here, she thought. It never ceased to amaze her that people on the Earth Kingdom mainland could live in such sprawling urban centers. She waved to people as she passed by and most waved back. There was definitely a celebratory tone in the air. The war had been over for only six weeks and yet these people believed, or at least wanted to believe, that it was really over for good.

She passed by some food stalls and her stomach grumbled fiercely so she chose one at random to have a bite. It was some unnamed little noodle shop, the kind that you ordered from the window and ate out in front. They weren't as good as home cooked but at least they were fast. She approached the counter and checked out the menu.

"What do you recommend?" she asked the old woman working behind the counter.

"Oh, they are all good," the old woman laughed warmly, "but my favorite is the elephant/koi and broccoli."

"That sounds great," Suki said, licking her lips. She hadn't realised how hungry she had been until now. She hadn't eaten anything since that morning when the ferry had set off from Full Moon Bay. The old woman handed her a bowl and utensils and Suki paid her before settling in to a table to eat. It was the late afternoon and the place was apparently popular because there were almost no free tables. She eventually settled on one that was a bit dirty but that didn't bother her much. Anything beats the Boiling Rock's cafeteria, she thought, at least there are just discarded noodles lying around here.

After she finished eating she set back off down the street. The city was laid out in a confusing way but, keeping to the dock worker's advice, she just kept moving uphill and soon she came upon a corner with taverns lining the street. Most of them had colorful names and Suki read each of them to herself. Seriously, some of these puns could have been written by Sokka himself, she thought wistfully. A man walked by her and she noticed right away that he didn't look like he belonged.

The man was tall, with a slender but wiry build and short wavy black hair. That was not what drew Suki's attention. The man wore bandages that wrapped all the way around his face and they extended from his hairline to right above his nostrils. The bandages had holes cut so that he could stills see and Suki could see his hard brown eyes underneath. His walk was Fire Nation, Suki noted, she could recognize the difference from her time in the Boiling Rock prison surrounded by Fire Nation people. The air of cheerfulness that had permeated the city was lost on this man. He walked with his eyes dead set ahead and his stride was angry and purposeful. He didn't move his neck and Suki assumed that his injuries must be severe and recent.

She didn't like the look of this guy, he had trouble written all over him and Suki took on her hunch and decided to follow him from a distance as he made his way down the busy street. She wanted to see Sokka and the Gaang but she couldn't in good conscience let this guy go do whatever it was that he planned to do. She trailed him to a small building that was marked 'Our Mother Tui Clinic' and she watched as he stood outside casing the place. What is he doing? she wondered but she kept her distance. Two men in Earth Kingdom Army uniforms came out of the clinic and walked down the street. Then the mysterious man went inside. Suki hurried to follow him in.

"The good news is you are going to live," the doctor told Bai, who lay on a cot outside the operating room. His vision was blurry and he was so tired but he stayed awake, the pain keeping him from any rest. "The road to recovery will be long but you're tough," the doctor indicated the pile of burnt and discarded Earth Kingdom soldier's armor beside the cot, "right soldier?" Bai blinked away tears and managed a gargled moan. "You're gear along with your identification tag was badly damaged so we haven't been able to report your injuries to your unit." My tag? Bai thought, just how bad were the burns that the MPs that had come to see him couldn't recognize him as the traitorous Dai Li agent wanted for questioning. "I know it will be hard but try to get some sleep," the doctor said and then he was gone, leaving Bai to lay helpless on the cot.

"Agent Bai," a cold voice called to him from just beyond his vision. The voice sent a chill down whole body despite the grievous burns. He had tasted death today and he no longer wanted to die. He wanted to live but Mister Zan was here to ensure he couldn't recover enough to be taken into custody. It was only fair, Bai thought. He had been a part of some cleaning operations in his time with the Dai Li and he understood the need for secrecy to be preserved. If military intelligence got a hold of him they would get the information out of him eventually. It was only good housekeeping. Bai began to cry softly, unable to blink the tears from his eyes. "I know you understand this isn't personal," Mister Zan came to stand over Bai and Bai noticed the bandages around his face. What was that about? he thought murkily.

"Hey! You can't be back here!" a woman's voice came from beyond Bai's vision. "Security!" Mister Zan turned around to face the voice.

Suki had shadowed the strange man as he went into a restricted hallway of the clinic. She was debating whether or not she should follow him or inform the proper authorities when she heard a woman cry out. The choice was made and Suki didn't hesitate to run into the restricted hallway.

"Hold it right there!" she called to mystery man who looked at her with a seething hatred. He didn't frighten her, she had faced down the toughest warriors the Fire Nation had ever produced and she had won. She drew her fans, holding them closed like thin bars of steel, and took up a fighting stance. "You like to dance?"

Zan watched the woman before him apprehensively. What was she holding? They looked like tiny blocks of metal but she held them by their bottom thirds so perhaps they were blades or striking instruments of some kind. Zan had not survived so long in this business by be uncautious so he threw out a fireball to test the woman's defenses.

Suki ducked the fireball, careful not to draw her fans out. She wanted the element of surprise and she wasn't going to give herself away by falling for such an obvious trick. She advanced on the firebender quickly and Zan took a step back, coming up in a low, powerful stance. He began throwing fireballs down the hallway and Suki ducked and dodged to avoid them as she closed with her opponent. When she was close she struck out with one of her fans, jabbing the metal at her opponents shoulder. He ducked at the last second and swept low, launching a wave of fire that crackled along the earth floor of the hallway. Suki dove over the wave and as her strike passed harmlessly past the firebender she bent her elbow, catching him across the chest with a stiff arm. The blow forced the air out of Zan's lungs and he staggered backward before catching himself. Before he could react, Suki cupped her wrist to catch him by the shoulder and her lead leg moved behind Zan's knee tripping him backward.

As Zan fell he threw up his free arm, trying to burn the girl off of him. She turned, using the momentum of his fall to dodge the wild flames. Zan's discipline was faltering and he knew it, he was striking out without thinking and she was controlling his body and the fight. Think, he told himself, think. As he fell toward the ground he reached around Suki's back and pulled her closer which put her off balance. Suddenly Suki was flying through the air, coming to an abrupt stop as she slammed into the hallway wall. She rolled up in time to avoid being burnt by another wave of fire that sizzled across the hallway toward her. This guy was good, Suki thought, now it's time to change up tactics. She moved at Zan and split her fans so they were fully extended as she sliced the air in front of his chest.

Fans? Zan thought, he had never seen anyone fighting with fans before but he extrapolated by the way she was moving and by their obviously sharp edges that they functioned much the same as daggers or short curved blades. That was not good. Zan took a step back, avoiding the swinging fans that cut the air before him. I've got him on the run now, Suki thought, he won't have enough time to work out a new strategy. Then he did something unexpected.

Zan knew he was going to lose if he didn't do something she couldn't see coming. He leaned back and with a forceful breath from deep in his diaphragm he breathed fire. Suki was caught by surprise, watching only Zan's arms and legs for fire attacks. She had to throw herself backward to avoid the flames that streamed from her opponent's mouth. Zan coughed out a wide gout of flame before turning on his heel and running down the hallway and disappearing. By the time Suki stood up he was gone. He got away, Suki thought with shame, how could I let him get away? A moan from the nearby cot caught her attention.

Bai had heard fighting from his cot but he couldn't turn his head to see what had happened. Zan had lost, that much was obvious from the fact that Bai was still alive. Then a young woman came into his field of vision.

"Are you alright?" she looked right into his eyes. Brave girl, Bai thought, considering how hideous my face must look. He grunted with obvious effort. "I think he was here to kill you," Suki mused, "but why is that? Who are you?" Bai could only grunt more urgently. He had to make her understand, he had to get somewhere safe. The Dai Li could rot for all he cared!

The nurse came back into the room followed by two Earth Kingdom soldiers.

"Who are you?" one of the soldiers said, taking up a low earthbending stance.

"I'm Suki, leader of the Kyoshi Warriors," she bowed to the soldier. "I was following the attacker when he came for this man," she gestured down at Bai. The soldiers relaxed at that.

"Thanks," one said, "you risked your life to protect one of our own and that means a lot."

"Who is he?" she asked. The soldiers exchanged an uneasy glance between them. "I risked my life to save him, I have a right to know why that man attacked him."

"Come with us," the other soldier, the leader apparently, told her. "We can explain back at company headquarters." And so the the soldiers, along with Suki, took Agent Bai into custody. On the way they explained, based on where they had found him, he was probably one of the missing soldiers from the Fifth Army's Eel-Hound Company and that they were bringing him to his supposed squadmates to see if they could identify him. Sokka will have to wait a little longer, Suki thought with regret.

Sergeant Mei, just Mei now, was off duty for the evening. She was walking up to the upper ring and her chest fluttered a little with nervous anticipation. She was wearing a strapless red dress that one of the younger soldiers in the company had promised her was the latest fashion from the Fire Nation and she felt very self conscious. Her wide, bony shoulders were showing, not one of her favourite features. She had even done up her short hair into a bun for the occasion.

This is silly, she thought to herself, she was acting like it was her first harvest dance. There was something about the tea shop owner that she found very appealing and she wanted to make a good impression. Maybe it was his handsome, fatherly face. Or maybe it was his body, surprisingly muscled and toned for an older man. No, she thought, she was impressed by the way that he acted towards those kids. Maybe it was because she was at 'that' age but she found a man who was good with kids to be very attractive. She checked that her hair was behaving and satisfied that it was she entered the Jasmine Dragon.

"Ah," Iroh said warmly as she entered, "I am so glad you came." He gestured toward a table, the only one in the middle of the dining area. The others had been pushed to the walls and the sole table bore a few candles which flickered gently, lighting the large room easily. Nice touch, she admitted to herself.

"Thanks," she said, "I am too." What? she thought, could she be any more uninteresting. Say something funny! her brain told her. Iroh brought over a teapot and served Mei a cup.

"Mei is a very pretty name," Iroh said handing her the cup, which she took as their fingers touched for just a moment. "But it pales in comparison to your beauty."

"Thanks," she managed to say. My, he was a smooth talker. She found herself twiddling her thumbs in her lap. Stop that, she chided herself. She had to go on the offensive. The problem was that despite being a good listener, her conversation skills were rusty. There wasn't much time for dating during the last years of the war. And what could she even talk about? All she knew was the army and she didn't think the old tea shop owner would want to talk of battles and strategies.

"If you don't mind me asking," Iroh began, sitting across from Mei, "what is your unit?"

"Eel-Hound Company, Second Regiment, First Division of the Fifth Earth Kingdom Army," she said without hesitation, as if that would mean anything to him.

"Ah, the Fifth Army," Iroh said, thinking back, "I recall that they turned the tide during the First Invasion of Pohai."

"You know about that?" Mei was surprised. Civilians often didn't understand that the 'Army' was actually composed of many smaller semi-independent fighting forces, each with their own traditions and history.

"Yes, of course," Iroh's smile was beaming, "Eel-Hound Company was responsible for undermining the walls when the Fire Nation Navy first captured the stronghold!"

"Yeah, just for the Thirty-Third Army to go and lose it the next month!" she said with conviction, "base builders and garisonners every one! As soon as the first flaming shots started coming over the wall, suddenly the place wasn't worth holding anymore." To her surprise Iroh laughed, it was a deep rumbling laugh that was full of humor.

"Such is the way of war," he said, still chuckling softly, "these things are fluid. One victory one day does not safeguard against a defeat on the next. Nor does it make that victory any less meaningful."

"I like that," she said, giving him a warm smile. "When you put it that way, yes, we were the heroes of the First Invasion!" She struck up her best hero pose for him which earned another chuckle. A thought entered her mind then.

"Did you serve?" Mei asked, she was sure that anyone with that kind of knowledge must have been in the army, or even fought there himself. Iroh gave a deep sigh and was silent for a moment. Mei watched him with apprehension. Finally he broke the silence.

"I was leading the assault!" he said with another laugh, he spoke again when he his laughter subsided, wiping a tear from his eye, "You Eel-Hounds cost me that fortress!" Mei laughed with him.

"A wise man once told me," she said through peels of laughter, "that these things are fluid." So he was that Iroh! The Dragon of the West minding a tea shop in Ba Sing Se! The absurdity of it cause them both to laugh until their sides hurt. Finally when they had stopped laughing she asked, "So what's for dinner?" Someone else answered her, walking through the door. Iroh stood up and turned to face him. He would recognize that voice anywhere.

"I'm afraid the general has another engagement," the voice was low and broken but it was unmistakable.

"Zhao!" Iroh said, taking up a firebending stance. "I would have thought you had learned your lesson." Mei recognized the name from the briefing that afternoon. This old broken man was the one behind what was happening in the city? She stood and took a wide earthbending stance.

"Oh, I have learned," the voice was smoother but the madness that threatened to break free colored every word. "Let me show you," Zhao said and behind him entered a dozen Dai Li agents, dressed in their black Li hats and long black robes that bore the symbol of the Earth Kingdom. The agents fanned out in a line behind Zhao.

"What do you want Zhao?" Iroh said, scanning his opponents.

"I want you to come with me," Zhao said, his voice burning hot. "Come and she will live," he said gesturing at Mei.

"I'd like to see you try," Mei said, raising her arms, prepared to strike. Zhao made a subtle gesture with his hand and three of the agents shot out their earth cuffs at Mei, catching her arms and binding them. "Agh! Get off me you lousy spooks!" she cursed as they dragged her towards Zhao. It was then that Iroh struck.

He leapt between the Dai Li agents and Mei and lashed out with flaming fists. One of the agents was thrown back to collapse against a table while the other two moved to avoid the blast.

"Subdue him," Zhao said with feverish intensity, stepping back while the agents attacked Iroh. Iroh struck out quickly, moving his arms and legs constantly to avoid being shackled as the agents maneuvered around him and attacked from all sides. Another agent caught a fire blast and battered himself against a nearby wall as he was thrown through the air. One agent caught Iroh by one hand and was surprised as Iroh turned on him and breathed a breath of fire at him. That agent went down quickly, rolling around to put out the flames on his long robes.

"Enough," Zhao's voice was a whisper but it boomed loudly through the Jasmine Dragon. Two of his agents held Mei before him. "Surrender Iroh, I won't ask again." Iroh looked at Mei who gave him a defiant expression. Don't do it, she pleaded with the set of her eyes and jaw.

"Fine," Iroh said, holding his hands out to be shackled but two Dai Li agents. Another shackled his legs and another caught him around the neck, covering his mouth so he couldn't give them any more dragon fire.

"That wasn't so hard," Zhao said, then he drew a short blade and stuck it into Mei's gut. Iroh screamed into his mouth covering and thrashed about but the half dozen Dai Li agents had him held fast. The other agents dropped Mei unceremoniously to the floor and they left her while they took Iroh away into the night.

Ah! That hurts! Mei was having trouble thinking straight. Her head was dizzy and her vision was flecked with little bright sparks. Her stomach hurt worse than anything she had ever experienced, so bad that she couldn't even cry out in pain as she bled out onto the tile floor of the tea shop. She could hear the sea now. She had only seen the sea once, years ago at the First Invasion of Pohai. The fortress overlooked the sea. It had been beautiful. Tears came to Mei's eyes now but she couldn't blink. Her left leg kicked uselessly against the tile floor and she found she couldn't control it or any of her other limbs. Her vision began to darken and the sound of the sea became overwhelming.

"Uncle, I hate to disturb your date but…" Zuko came into the inn and his voice died in his throat. There had been a battle and his uncle was nowhere to be found. The woman sergeant from earlier was here. She was bleeding and she looked off vacantly at the ceiling. Her chest heaved from her laboured breathing. Zuko ran to her side. She was still alive but barely. He tore off a strip from his shirt and wrapped it hastily around her wounded midsection. He had come for some groceries he had forgot to buy and the Gaang was waiting for him to make dinner back at the house so he had taken Appa to get there faster. If he could just get her onto Appa then he could rush her back to Katara and Katara would heal her! Zuko helped Mei up into a sitting position and he felt with dread the contents of her midsection slide about inside her. She was hurt bad. Zuko had to breathe deeply to keep from panicking. If he lost his cool then she would die and with her any chance of finding his uncle.

"I've got you," Zuko said soothingly. He didn't know her name. He had learned to command soldiers on the battlefield so he tried something else, "soldier!" He shouted at her until her head turned to face him, her eyes focusing briefly before returning to look at nothing. "Hold on! You do not have my permission to die! Is that clear?" he was shouting as he carried her out the front door. She mumbled something incomprehensible. "I can't hear you, soldier!" She mumbled something stronger, her head lolling about. "Speak up, sergeant!"

"Yes, sir," she muttered, blood dripping from her mouth in thick syrupy strands that ran down onto her red dress.

"I can't hear you, sergeant!" Zuko had her onto Appa now, "Yip! Yip!" he called and Appa took off.

"Flying," she muttered in amazement, "what?"

"You're almost home," Zuko assured her, "everything is going to be fine."

Before Appa had landed Zuko was yelling down for Katara. She and Aang were sitting on the roof again, waiting for Zuko to get back with the rest of the ingredients for dinner. Aang took off and flew up to Appa as the sky bison landed in the garden with a soft earthy thud.

"It's Mei," Aang said as he scooped up Katara and flew her down to Appa's back, "she's hurt really badly!"

"Let me see," Katara said as she drew the vial of water from around her neck. It wasn't water from the Spirit Oasis but she always kept a vial on hand in case of injuries. This wasn't good. The woman was nearly dead, that much was obvious. She was muttering now, mostly unintelligible, with occasional bursts of nonsense. "Can you hear me Mei?" Katara kept her voice even with great effort.

"Off the beach," Mei said and shivered violently before becoming still again, "get off...the beach." Katara bend the water so that it hovered just over Mei's midsection. She probed into the woman's injuries with the bending. She was bleeding to death and she wouldn't last long enough for Katara to close the wounds. "These things…" Mei muttered, "are fluid."

Katara looked up at Aang and Zuko, fear and apprehension playing across their faces. She looked past them at the moon. It was full tonight. Steeling herself, Katara took a deep breath.

"Mei, this is going to hurt," she said, moving one of her hands to bend Mei's blood. The woman let out a low sigh as Katara forced the blood to thicken into clots that jammed up the internal bleeding. Now she had a fighting chance. Katara set to work using the water to close the wounds and repair the damaged tissue and after a few tense minutes Katara leaned back.

"Is she going to be okay?" Aang asked, his voice just a whisper.

"Yes," Katara said, sagging back into Appa's saddle with exhaustion. She heard sighs of relief and noticed that one sigh had been her own.

"Thank you," Zuko said, his voice a croak in his throat. He put a hand on Katara's shoulder.

Mei would live.

**Author's Notes:**

Thanks for reading! I hope you are still enjoying the story. So as promised there was a lot of fluff this time and even some action thrown in for good measure. Did I go overboard on the handholding scene? Am I getting carried away with the side plots and OCs? Are all the perspectives confusing?

So Suki is back in town and things are going to go from bad to worse on the awkwardness scale. Are Sokka and Toph together now? As a wise man once said, these things are fluid ;)

I hope everyone is enjoying all the OCs I'm putting into the story. Also Uncle Iroh's date!

So I think this story is going to be about 8 chapters in total. By then the plot with the scroll and Zhao will be resolved but I am going to continue the Tokka in another adventure set right after. I am enjoying the little fannon I'm building along with all the love triangles and political intrigue and stuff so I guess it will be a direct sequel? Anyways, I'll deal with that when I get to it. I just want to set a definite limit on this particular story and I am thinking in my head it would be like a two-parter episode in scope.

**To Tonitokkian: **Thanks! I'm glad Zhao is being a good villain and that the awkwardness is fun for everyone and not annoying :) it is going to get much more awkward before things are done.

**To zulfi: **Thanks for the review! I'm glad you're enjoying the confusion. I really wanted to explore how their friendship would kind of morph into a relationship rather than them falling in love and then everything is fine forever 'cause they are just too awkward for things to go smoothly :)

**To Free-Spirited Dreamer: **Thank you so much :) I was really hoping the action would come out well because there is going to be a lot more of it as the story goes on. Also I am glad you are enjoying the awkward weirdness.


	5. Chapter 5

Sokka sat in the boys' room of the house at the small table that he often used for writing letters. He had been sitting there since the afternoon and now the sun had set and the moon had risen in the sky and his stomach was rumbling from hunger. He didn't get up. He had a job to do. He looked down at the letter before him and with a loud sigh he crumpled it up and tossed it into the trash with all the others. He began again.

_Dear Suki,_

_ I hope this letter finds you well._

What? What kind of opening is that? She's your girlfriend not your distance relative and you are trying to break up with her not wish her a happy birthday!

_Dear Suki,_

_ I have something to say to you and it won't be easy but it will be for the best. You are an amazing woman and I have loved the time we've had together. We have been through so much together, from the battle at Kyoshi Island to fighting the Fire Nation airships over Wulong Forest. But now I feel that it's best if we go our separate ways._

Sokka stopped there as hot tears began to pool in his eyes. He slumped his shoulders and choked down a sob. What was he doing? How could he hurt Suki like this? Like he said, they had been through so much together and now he was trying to cast her aside so he could be with Toph. It wasn't fair to either of them. Suki had only ever been a good girlfriend and she deserved more than Sokka breaking her heart so he could be with someone else. Toph was young and inexperienced, she didn't understand the risks that came with dating Sokka. The risks of putting your heart on the line and trusting someone else so deeply only for one of them to eventually hurt the other.

_Dear Suki,_

_ I'm sorry but I can't love you the way you deserve. I'm a horrible person who can't really love anyone as much as they deserve. You will be better off without me. Anybody would be._

Sokka was crying now, tears streamed down his cheeks and threatened to stain the parchment as they landed on the writing table. What if he couldn't love Toph the way that she needed? What if he would only let her down too? He had to admit that with her he had felt something deeper, something beyond the infatuation of youth that had made him fall so deeply in love with Yue despite only knowing her for a few days or with Suki as soon as she returned his affection back on Kyoshi Island. Toph had been his friend for nearly a year and while he had thought she was cute from the beginning she was more than that. He had had time to let their relationship mature at a natural pace, not rushing headlong into it like he usually did. She was his best friend and now he was in love with her. And she's in love with you, he added.

_Dear Suki,_

_I'm sorry but I don't think we can be together. I can't give you all my heart and I don't want to see you get hurt. You deserve to be with someone who will love you completely and I'm afraid that that will never be me. I'm just incapable._

He looked down at this last attempt, blinking away tears. Then he crumpled it up and started again. He was running out of paper and yet he couldn't find the words to break Suki's heart.

Toph was lying on her bed, she had been there since she and Sokka had gotten back from lunch. Sokka, she sighed a deep loving sigh. She had been playing the events since this morning over and over in her head and with each rendition her feelings for him became stronger and stronger. They had held hands! Tui and La, she thought, the feeling of his hand in hers was still fresh in her mind. She had touched his face and traced the outline of his lips with her fingers and now she had a good idea of what he looked like. Gah! He was good looking, Toph admitted with a blush, no wonder every girl in the Earth Kingdom threw herself at him! She thought about his lips again and she blushed more furiously. She wanted to kiss him, the realisation caused her breath to catch and her heart to beat furiously in her chest. He was her best friend and now she loved him. But what about Suki? Toph thought, Sokka would have to break her heart so that he could be with her instead. The thought made Toph feel sick. She like Suki and she didn't want to hurt her but there was no other way. There was no way that Sokka and her could go on without acknowledging their feelings and if that meant that Suki would have to be hurt then that was what had to be.

The back door of the house flew open and the commotion broke Toph's train of thought. Katara came in first and Aang and Zuko followed her in, what were they carrying? It felt to Toph like they were hauling a huge uneven sack of something, constantly shifting under the weight and readjusting their grasps as they carried the thing to the couch where they place it down. Then Toph's heart froze. It was a person.

"Toph! Sokka! Mai!" Katara called down the hallway, "Mei's hurt! Come quick!" Toph leapt out of bed and ran down the hallway, a moment later Sokka came running from his room. Mai came out from the kitchen. They came into the living room to find Mei lying nearly motionless on the couch. Sokka breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that her chest was still heaving. She was alive, at least. Toph relaxed when she felt Sokka become less tense. Mei must be alright, she thought.

"What happened?" Sokka's voice came out hoarse and syrupy, like he had been screaming all afternoon. No, not screaming, Toph thought, crying. Her breath caught in her throat at that. Poor Sokka, she thought, what was she putting him through?

"I found her in the tea shop," Zuko answered, "the place had been attacked. There was signs of firebending and earthbending and uncle Iroh is gone."

"Gone?" Toph spat out, her eyes wide with terror. She felt the others tense up around her.

"He's missing," Zuko quickly corrected himself, "it must have been Zhao. He took uncle Iroh."

"At least he's alive," Aang offered with a deep sigh of relief. There was trepidation in his voice and it scared all of them.

"If…" Mai said, clearing her throat before he voice returned to its normal even pitch, "if he wanted to kill Iroh then he would have already done it. He must need him for something." The revelation did little to make them feel better.

"That means there is still time to rescue him!" Zuko said and began pacing. "Mei might be our only hope of finding my uncle," he stopped by the couch, looking down at the wounded soldier. "How long until she wakes up?"

"I don't know," Katara admitted weakly, "she was hurt really badly." Zuko sat in a chair across from Mei.

"Then I'll wait," he said with resignation and Mai came up to put her hands on his shoulders.

"Your uncle is tough," Mai said, "we'll get him back." Her statement was so sure it made Zuko breathe a little easier, but he didn't take his eyes off the wounded soldier out cold on the couch before him.

"Yeah," Toph offered, her voice returning to its normal confidence, "remember when he got captured by those Earth Kingdom soldiers in the hot spring?"

"He told you about that?" Zuko looked up with astonishment.

"Of course," Toph said, her hands on her hips. "And he told me how you tracked him down tirelessly and rescued him."

"That was different," he replied weakly, a glimmer of hope coloring his voice, "I was following a trail. Now we have nothing."

"We have her," Sokka pointed to Mei, lying on the couch. "We're going to get Iroh back."

"Yeah, Zuko," Aang said cheerfully, "you said it yourself, Zhao has nothing on Team Avatar!"

Zuko gave them all an embarrassed smile. He was still getting used to the comfort and support he received the Gaang but like all good things, it was getting easier to get used to.

"Thank you," Zuko said, looking at them all in turn, "that means a lot." Mai bent down to kiss him on the cheek and she held his head in her arms.

In the commotion nobody noticed that Sokka had been crying, nobody except Toph.

"I've got to finish something," Sokka said, weakly excusing himself, before turning to go back to his room.

"We'll call you when Mei wakes up," Aang offered as Sokka disappeared down the hallway.

Toph stood frozen. She wanted to chase after him but she didn't know how he would react. She didn't even know what she would say to him. What could she say? The door to the boys' room closed loudly. Steeling herself with a deep breath, Toph walked down the hallway after Sokka. She reached the door and felt out with her earthbending to see that Sokka was sitting at his writing table again, he had been there since they had gotten home. She hesitated. What was she going to say? What was she going to do? She didn't have any answers but she knew that she needed to do something. Earthbenders face things head on after all, so she knocked once before opening the door and going inside.

Sokka was surprised by the knock. He had hoped that he would have some privacy since everyone would be busy tending to Sergeant Mei and planning their next move. He looked up with surprise to see that it was Toph. He reflexively covered the latest letter that he had started before remembering that she couldn't read, being blind and all.

"Hey," Toph said as casually as she could manage with the bumble/flies that were fluttering around in her stomach.

"Hi," Sokka said. He looked at the young earthbender before him. She was wearing her usual outfit, the Blind Bandit getup from Earth Rumble. Her yellow surcoat was ripped from where she had torn out a bandage for his shoulder and the hems of her baggy green pants were blackened by the firefight earlier that afternoon. Her long black hair was down and it hung in a luxurious mass behind her head and framed her face. Her beautiful face, he corrected. Her green-grey eyes, the ones that had haunted him so much these last two days, looked absently at the wall behind him.

"So," Toph said after a moment's hesitation.

"Yeah?" Sokka's voice had picked up at the sight of her and it was colored with encouragement. She thought that he must not know what to say either and he was waiting for her to take the lead. She said nothing. She had no idea what to say so instead she took a hesitant step forward. Sokka stood up now, facing her as she slowly walked across the small room to him.

She held out her arms and he stepped in and hugged her close. He rested his face on the top of her head, smothered himself in her thick raven hair. He breathed deeply and enjoyed her earthy smell. She buried her face in the folds of his tunic, her arms wrapped around his waist. They stayed like that for a while, neither needing to say anything. Toph could feel Sokka shivering as he held onto her for support. Sokka could feel Toph's heart pounding in her chest against his midsection.

Suki walked down the street leading to the Gaang's residence. She had spent the evening talking with the leader of the soldiers, a Captain Ya. The captain had confirmed that the burnt man was indeed one of hers and he was placed under arrest and taken away by some soldiers, who wore different uniforms that the rest, who the soldiers had called Spooks. Unfortunately, they had no leads on the mysterious firebender and Suki was politely but firmly told that her help was no longer needed. So she was finally on her way to see her friends again. She walked up the long, well lit street of the upper ring and finally stopped when she spotted the place she had been to just over six weeks ago. Back when the war had just ended and the Gaang was taking some time to relax before they went their separate ways. As it turned out, Suki and Ty Lee had been the only ones to actually be separated from the group. Suki felt a pang of jealousy at the thought, even the newly crowned Fire Lord Zuko and his blaise girlfriend had managed to stick around. They had probably been having the time of their lives without her all this time.

She took a deep breath and smoothed the folds of her ruffled travel clothes as best as she could before knocking loudly on the door. There was a flurry of activity from behind the door and suddenly it flew open. She was greeted by Aang posed to attack a few feet in front of her.

"Hi," she said nervously and Aang relaxed instantly.

"Suki!" he gave her a huge smile. "We had no idea you were coming."

"Suki?" Katara asked as she came up get a better look. "We've missed you," Katara said and pulled Suki into a welcoming hug.

"You guys look rough? Is something wrong?" Suki asked as she was led to a chair in the living room by Katara. She saw a middle aged woman in a bloody red dress lying on the couch.

"Things are pretty bad," Zuko said, "Admiral Zhao is back and he's planning something big. Also," Zuko paused, collecting himself, "he has my uncle." Suki offered Zuko a warm pat on the shoulder.

"We'll get him back," Suki said, "I know it. Do we have any leads?" Aang was about to start explaining when Suki's look made him pause. "Where's Sokka?" A voice from behind answered her question.

"Toph felt someone come in, what's going on?" Sokka said as he came into the living room. His voice died to a croak in his throat as he laid eyes on Suki. She turned to face him, her own face lighting up. His face was slack and the only expression he showed was the shock and hurt in his eyes. Toph stood by his side motionless.

"Sokka," Suki said, "it's so good to see you!" She ran up to him and took him in a loving embrace. Her voice was steady but it held some nervousness. Why was he looking at her like that? What was going on here?

"Hi Suki," Sokka said. His brain was frozen. She was here, right now! He knew he had to tell her right away or he would never be able to gather the courage to do it. She pulled back to arms length at the tone of his voice. She looked into his eyes and saw the sadness beneath the surface and the swollen redness of the tears that he must have shed. Then she leaned in and kissed him. It was a cautious, probing kiss. Her lips brushing gently against his and, sensing him leaning in to it, she pressed firmly down with her lips on his. He breathed a long hot breath through his nose and their lips locked. Suki shivered involuntarily and pulled herself close so that had he to crane his neck to keep kissing her.

Toph felt the world fall out from under her. She turned to look away from them as her face screwed up into a grimace. Her cheeks burned and her eyes squeezed shut to keep the hot tears that were already welling up from flowing freely down her face. She could still feel them kissing through her earthbending and she cursed herself for ever having learned the stupid skill. Her arms were pinned to her sides and her hands clenched into tight fists and her short, worn nails dug painfully into her palms.

Toph! Sokka thought even as he kissed Suki. His head was swimming and he felt himself drowning in the current. He breathed in Suki's sweet scent and found himself hoping it would be the musty earth and dirt that he had grown so fond of. His nose brushed against hers while they kissed and he found himself wishing it was the short flat nose that he had nuzzled against just last night. He wrapped his arms around Suki's ample waist and he found himself wishing it was the toned but slender frame of his best friend. Ah! Sokka thought as he willfully pushed himself back from Suki. Toph turned and stormed off into the girls' room, the tears unable to be held back any longer now streamed down her cheeks.

"We…" he said, unable to look her in the eyes so instead he looked at her slender neck. "We need to talk." Suki's chest became tight and she felt her heart sink to the bottom of her gut as she watched her boyfriend's face play out waves of apprehension, hurt, and confusion. Her knees went weak and she couldn't force herself to speak. Instead she nodded bravely and Sokka led the way to the boys' room where they would have some privacy.

Toph ran onto her bed and threw herself onto it forcefully. She was crying now and she buried her head into her pillow to keep the noise from carrying to the rest of the house. She was an idiot! He had tried to warn her what would happen and now Suki had come back and her heart was breaking. The pain flared up from the pit of her stomach up to the top of her chest and it made her arms and legs numb. Hot and cold flashed in waves through her body and she screamed into the pillow and the heat and wetness from the tears were suffocating. It hurt so badly that she wished she could just tear her heart out! she thought, then she wouldn't have to hurt like this anymore. Was this what love was? Did it always end in heartbreak? She hated love and she hated Sokka. She sat bolt upright, her pillow clenched over her face with both hands as her feet touched the earthen floor. She felt out into the boys' room and she knew that Sokka and Suki were sitting on the bed. She screamed even harder into the pillow and threw herself back so her feet couldn't touch the ground. She didn't want to feel her swordsman anymore.

"What's going on?" Suki finally managed to ask. Sokka was sitting across from her, his eyes fixed on the ground.

"I think we should break up," he croaked out. His voice was broken and uneven, he sobbed with shallow breaths. Suki felt like she would die. She had dated before Sokka and she had had breakups but that didn't make it any easier.

"Why?" was all she could manage. Sokka shrank further, if that was possible. His shoulders slumped and he hung his head.

"I'm," Sokka stopped. What could he say? Why was this so hard? His chest was tight and the lump in his throat felt like it would suffocate him. His head was spinning and he wanted to run out of his room and never look back.

"What did I do?" Suki's voice came out as a whimper. The strong Kyoshi Warrior was facing her toughest opponent, her own heart. Her voice became colored with anger and fear. "What did I do wrong?" she said with more insistence.

"Nothing," Sokka breathed, his voice was barely audible. They sat in silence for a moment.

"Then why?" her voice was pleading now and Sokka hurt all over. How could he do this to her? He was a terrible person for breaking her heart, for letting her love him in the first place.

"I'm in love with Toph," he spat out before he could stop himself. Suki let out a small gasp and she began to cry. Her body was wracked with sobs and she covered her face with her hands. Sokka turned to look at Suki now. She was always so beautiful, so confident. Not right now. She was totally vulnerable, her heart laid bare, and Sokka had drove his knife right into it. He reached out a hand to comfort her but he stopped and it hung midway between them in the air. He let it drop. "I'm sorry," Sokka said, desperate to take some of that hurt back, he just wanted to see the confident, powerful woman that he had fallen in love with all those months ago come back. "You deserve better," he began.

"No," Suki interrupted him, "I got exactly what I deserved." The self-deprecation in her voice hurt Sokka more than the sword he had taken in the shoulder.

"No," he said, "you deserve someone who will love you with all their heart," he was speaking through tears now. "But that isn't me."

"I want to be alone," Suki said, slumping down on the bed behind Sokka. "Please." The pleading tone of her voice froze Sokka stock still. With all his willpower he forced himself to stand and slowly he walked to the door. He turned to say something but looking at Suki lying there, so defeated, stopped any words from leaving his throat. He turned and walked out. He closed the door behind himself and found himself falling to sit against it. He didn't move from there, his limbs not responding to his desire to get as much distance between himself and Suki as he could. Coward, he thought to himself, you don't deserve to be with either of them.

In the living room the rest of the Gaang sat, waiting for Sergeant Mei to wake up. They knew that something was going on between Sokka, Toph, and Suki but they were respectful enough to keep out of it.

"I'll make us some dinner," Aang said, "Zuko, you can wait for Mei to wake up."

"Thanks," Zuko said.

"I can help," Katara said, following Aang into the kitchen. That left just Zuko, Mai, and the wounded sergeant in the living room.

"It's going to be okay you know," Mai said, moving to sit on the thick arm of the chair so that she could getting a better hold of her boyfriend.

"How are you so sure?" he asked, looking up into her eyes with a pleading expression.

"Do you remember back at the Boiling Rock," Mai began, "when Ty Lee and I turned on Azula to give you and your friends enough time to escape?"

"Of course," Zuko said, he squeezed Mai's hand for emphasis.

"Do you know why I chose to rot in the prison cell for weeks rather than let Azula catch you?" she asked and Zuko gave her a look that said he didn't know but that he was glad she had. "It was because I believed in you. I believed that you and your band of misfits could take on the most powerful empire the world has ever seen and win." Zuko blushed in embarrassment but he didn't look away from her. "I still believe in you," she said and leaned down and kissed him firmly.

In the kitchen Aang and Katara cut up some vegetables to stir fry. They worked in silence for a few minutes until Aang finally had to ask.

"What's going on with Sokka?" Aang said. Katara gave Aang a testy look. She knew what he was asking. If anybody knew what was going on in her brother's head it would be her.

"I don't really want to talk about it," Katara said, dumping the vegetables into a large wok while Aang began to boil some rice. "And I don't think it's any of our business."

"Right," Aang said, hiding his disappointment in not knowing, "you're right." After a pause he said, "that was really amazing you know, what you did to save Mei."

"I used bloodbending," she said, her voice unsteady. "I had to."

"I know," Aang came over to her side and gave her a supporting hug. "Maybe it's not the bending that's bad, maybe you can use any bending for good or evil."

"Maybe," Katara said, thinking about what her boyfriend had said. "Maybe you're right."

Toph was still on her bed. She had chanced another look around and she touched her foot to the earthen floor. She felt someone on a bed in the boy's room, by the weight on the frame it was Suki, and then she felt the young water tribesman in the hall. He was sitting, slumped down against the door to the boys' room. She wanted to hit him! she told herself as she stood up. She froze, she could feel his heartbeat and his laboured breaths that came out as shallow sobs. She took a step towards the door, her feet feeling like stone. He was her friend and he needed her right now. Nobody else knew what he was feeling or why. She had to do something. She took another step but stopped. What could she do that would make it all better? Nothing. Despite herself she took another step forward. She reached out for the door now and her hand hovered over the door knob.

Stop.

What are you doing? she asked herself. Do you really think he will want to see you right now? Do you really want to see him? she asked herself. Truthfully, she didn't care that he probably didn't want her anywhere near him or that she didn't know what she was feeling toward her friend just then. She just needed to help him. Somehow.

She opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. Sokka was still sitting slumped against the door. She walked over slowly until she was standing over him. He looked up just enough to see her bare feet before him before he looked back down at his knees. Toph cleared her throat with great effort, before speaking.

"Are you and Suki…" she began but she couldn't find the words to finish, "...over?"

"Yes," Sokka answered, the shame evident in his voice.

"Sokka," she said, "I…"

"Wait," he said, interrupting her. "I really like you Toph, but I don't think I'm good for you. I'm just really messed up." Toph just stood for a moment before she bent down to one knee.

"You are the only thing that would be good for me," she said, reaching out to rest a hand on the side of his face, her thumb wiping the tears from his cheek. She loved him. No matter what, no matter how things might turn out, she loved him more than anything.

"Toph," he said, looking up at the young earthbender finally, "what if I hurt you?" he reached up and put his hand over hers, holding it to his face.

"Did you forget," she said with mock cockiness, "I'm the toughest bender in the world?" He chuckled but it came out in rough gasps.

"Never," Sokka said, his voice thick and syrupy. Then Toph leaned in further and, hesitating for just a moment, planted a cautious kiss on his cheek. Sokka froze. His head felt light and he swallowed hard. She lingered for just a moment before moving her face away from his so that she was a few inches from him.

"I really like you, meathead," Toph told him, her cheeks flush, "and I know you like me."

"I do," Sokka said. Toph pressed her forehead against his and her black bangs brushed against his eyes. "Thank you," he said.

"What are friends for?" she said as lightly as she could manage. She helped him to his feet and he rubbed his face to clear away the wetness of the tears. He was done crying and so was she.

"Pulling scams?" he offered, his voice regaining some of its strength.

"Eating noodles?" she replied, clearing her throat.

"Holding hands?" he said and they both blushed.

"Exactly," she said and took his hands in hers. To her immense relief it felt just as good the second time around. Sokka cleared his throat nervously. His heart was racing now, she could feel it through his hands without needing her earthbending.

"We should go see if there's any dinner," Sokka said and Toph nodded. They let go of each others hands and walked down the hallway to the living room.

Aang and Katara had just finished cooking. They were bringing the plates full of fried rice and stir fried vegetables out to the living room when Toph and Sokka came back. Katara noticed that Suki wasn't with them. She gave Sokka a probing look and his shameful expression told her everything she needed to know.

"I'm going to take my dinner with Suki," Katara excused herself, taking two plates down the hallway to the boys' room. Aang knew her better than to try and dissuade her.

"Are you guys alright?" Aang asked, looking between his two friends. They looked really tired, really beat up. At Aang's words, Toph and Sokka looked thoroughly embarrassed. Zuko and Mai gave them an analytical glace.

"Girl troubles," Sokka said, fidgeting with his tunic. Mai's gaze shifted back and forth between them knowingly.

"That's rough buddy," Zuko said sympathetically.

"Tell me about it," Sokka said with a sigh and received a hard punch from Toph for his troubles. "Ow," he chided her.

Sergeant Mei opened her eyes slowly. She felt like she was floating on something soft. What was that? she wondered. She looked up to the sight of a wooden ceiling. Where am I? she thought. "Eh," was what she said aloud.

With that the Gaang all turned to face her. Zuko was up and by her side before anybody else had moved and Mai was almost thrown off the chair as the weight shifted and it nearly fell over sideways.

"Mei?" Zuko asked, "can you hear me?"

"Iroh?" she muttered, and that got a giggle from the Gaang. Zuko was even starting to sound like his uncle.

"It's Zuko," Zuko correctly her gently, "you're safe now. We brought you back here and fixed up your wounds."

"Thanks," Sergeant Mei managed. Her focus was returning and she tried to lean her head up but it was so heavy she could only shift it to the side to see who was with her in the room. "It was Zhao and the Dai Li," she said and Zuko nodded, "they took him."

"Where did they take him?" Sokka asked now. Sergeant Mei looked at the young man, something about him was different than it had been just this morning. Toph was beside him and it seemed to Mei that whatever had happened, they had worked out their issues. She smiled weakly but it hurt.

"I don't know," she said, "I was incapacitated so I didn't get a chance to follow them," she tried to shrug but her shoulders seemed so heavy. "It is raining?" Mei asked absentmindedly, she missed the sound of the ocean.

"Yeah," Toph said, they hadn't noticed it but it was really coming down. She could feel the fat drops splatter against the earth outside in quick succession. "Feels like a rainstorm."

"I wish I had my uniform," Mei said, "it's waterproof."

"Nonsense," Zuko chided her, "you are staying here until you're well."

"I need to get back out there, I need to find Zhao," Mei tried to move but again her head was so heavy it kept her down. Suddenly Sokka had a thought, it was fuzzy at first but it quickly coalesced into something clear. It was a hunch but maybe, just maybe it would let them find Iroh.

"The uniforms," Sokka said and everyone turned to face him. "Zhao stole some palace guard uniforms, right?" They nodded. "So he obviously needs to get into the palace for something, right?" They nodded again. "And he was waiting for something. That's why he hasn't made his move yet," this time it was a statement. The gears in Sokka's head were moving and his theory turned into a hunch.

"I thought there wasn't any special event for firebenders any time soon?" Toph asked.

"What rarely happens this time of year in this city?" Sokka was waving his hands about animately, "the rain! It hasn't rained in weeks!"

"So what?" Aang asked, then his memory of his nearly fatal encounter with Azula's lightning came flooding back. "Oh no."

"What if it's not a fire technique he found," Sokka said gravely, "what if it was lightning?"

"We need to hurry," Zuko said standing.

"I'll get Katara and Suki," Mai said, rising from her perch on the arm of the chair.

"Help me up," Sergeant Mei said and tried to lift her hand but she could only shift her elbow.

"You need to stay here," Zuko said, resting a hand on the wounded soldier, "you aren't in any condition to fight." Sergeant Mei looked sullen but she nodded weakly in agreement. Mai returned to the living room with Katara and Suki, who Sokka noticed wouldn't meet his gaze.

"Mai filled us in," Katara said, her tone all business, "what's the plan?" She turned to Sokka as did the rest of the Gaang, all except for Suki who kept looking at the ground.

"Okay well the palace is huge, we can't cover it all," Sokka began, "so we need to get the help of the King's Household Guard. They are the only soldiers that can go into the palace grounds without suspicion. So naturally, suspect all of them."

"How are we going to get their help?" Katara asked.

"Well Aang is the Avatar," Sokka said dryly and Aang rubbed his neck in embarrassment. "And Toph and I have this," Sokka said as he drew the scroll that Captain Ya had given him. Suki flinched at the mention of their names together.

"But how will we find Zhao?" Zuko asked, "and my uncle?"

"For that, we'll need to figure out where Zhao is planning to strike," Sokka said, folding his arms thoughtfully. "We should split up. Aang and Katara you can get the palace guards and fill them in on what's going on. Zhao's men will probably be disguised so they should check all of their soldiers for unfamiliar faces." Aang and Katara nodded. "The rest of us will search any likely places for the Dai Li agents."

"And just where should we look?" it was Mai, she was fingering one of the many knives that she kept hidden in her clothes. Truthfully, Sokka had no idea.

"Once we get to the palace we'll just have to search around," Toph spoke up and Suki flinched again. "The whole place is made of stone so I should be able to pick out any groups of people sneaking around where they shouldn't be." Katara nodded thoughtfully and the others murmured their approval for the plan.

"Good luck," Sergeant Mei said from the couch. A few minutes later, the Gaang had gone. Get up soldier, a voice said in her head, you have work to do. Her head thrummed painfully with the sound of the rain as the storm picked up outside. Mei wiggled her toes. She was getting feeling back in her legs and arms. She wiggled her fingers and managed to shift her elbows. Everything was so heavy, she thought, maybe she should just rest. No, she thought, she had to tell Captain Ya what was happening. She groaned with the effort of moving and to her surprise her voice became stronger in the empty living room. Up! a voice shouted in her head, get up! She bent her neck and her head lifted slightly off the couch. Good, good, almost there, she thought. She strained to lift her head further and her breath became labored. Finally, she was able to sit up on the couch. No time to rest, the voice said again, you need to get moving. She found she could bend her knees and the feeling of crashing waves in her head was now only a dull humming. She threw her legs over the couch and she felt dizzy and nearly fell back down. Mei gave a deep breath and heaved herself to her feet. She nearly stumbled but she was able to keep her balance from years of practice being thrown around on the battlefield as earth and firebenders clashed around her.

Okay, she thought, now to get back to the park. She left the house as quickly as she could. She was going to warn Captain Ya.

**Author's Notes:**

Thanks for sticking with the story! It's been pretty crazy writing so far and hopefully I can keep it up strong right through to the finale!

As always, criticism is super appreciated! This was probably the hardest thing I've ever had to write...I actually like SukixSokka, just I like TophxSokka a lot more ;)...and it was really hard to smack them all around so much. I hope it didn't come off as melodramatic and that the end of Suki and Sokka's relationship was believable and didn't feel rushed.

So I think Toph and Sokka are a couple now, well as much as they even know what that means, they are super awkward after all, but things are definitely not resolved with Suki and things between Toph and Sokka are going to stay complicated for a while longer!

This chapter was considerably shorter than the others but that was because I didn't want to put anything in this chapter other than the breakup and I didn't want to drag it out too much just to fill the page count. Tomorrow it should be back to normal length again.

**To Free-Spirited Dreamer: **Thanks for the critique :) I'm glad the handholding scene came out well! You're criticism has been so helpful with my writing, you have no idea! You make me very conscious of the elements of my story that I need to keep strong, like the love triangle or the backstory about how Zhao escaped the Spirit World. Thank you.

**To hunter111: **I'm so glad you enjoyed the humour! I never can tell if what I write is funny until somebody tells me so it's a big relief to hear it's working here! I really wanted to capture the mix of seriousness and light-heartedness of the show in my story.

**To zulfi: **I hope you continue to enjoy the story as the climax is coming up fast! I'm glad to hear that Mei came across so well :D I really like her too. She's a fighter so expect to see her come around later!

**To Tonitokkian: **Thanks for the review! I hope things turned out between them in a way you liked! This chapter was super sad to write so hopefully it feels like a real journey to working things out between them.


	6. Chapter 6

"This is the place," Zhao said softly. Mister Zan walked quickly behind the ex-admiral, followed by a dozen agents of the Dai Li and the Fire Nation deserters who had pledged their loyalty to their returning leader. They were all dressed in the uniforms of palace guards, even Zhao, which looked unnatural on the fearsome firebender. They stalked the hallways of the palace, Zhao leading the way up and down the maze of corridors, and their footsteps echoed loudly in the high vaulted ceilings above them. Zhao stopped suddenly, licking his lips with fervor. He pointed to an innocuous servant's door. "Up," he said before pushing the door open and climbing the stairs beyond. How was he doing that? Zan wondered, he was having doubts about the plan. He had joined with Zhao and the Dai Li because Zhao had promised to restore their power and influence and make Zan rich beyond imagining and Zan failed to see how stalking the palace, carrying some old Fire Nation relic was going to bring any of them closer to their goals. And why did they have to bring that old man with them? Zan shot Iroh a glare as Iroh continued to kick and flail against his bonds, requiring three Dai Li agents to keep hold of him.

The party climbed the servant's stairs to the top and they came out onto one of the many rooftops of the palace. The rain was pouring down on them and Zan wished he had one of those black hats the Dai Li were so fond of. The storm was in full swing now and the wind was fierce on the rooftop of the palace and the rain seemed to cut at Zan from every direction. He held a hand up to his face in a futile attempt to keep his bandages dry under his palace guard's helmet. The sky was black and the moon was just a faint outline behind thick clouds and the rain reduced Zan's visibility to only a few paces in any direction. How was Zhao able to tell where they were going? How had he known that this was the place? As far as Zan knew, Zhao had never been to Ba Sing Se, the Hundred Year War had been going on his entire life, and he had certainly never been in the palace of the Earth King.

"We're almost there," Zhao said with barely contained enthusiasm. The party continued across the rooftop and onto one of the inner walls. He could feel the way more than he could see it. He was so close, Zhao thought as he licked his lips, to the storm that would make him a legend. He would destroy Ba Sing Se and kill the Avatar!

"There it is," Aang told the others as Appa flew through the stormy sky towards the palace. Aang bent the air to keep the turbulence down so that Appa could fly in the terrible weather while Katara bent the water away from them as if they were under a massive invisible canopy. The palace wasn't far from the Gaang's home as the sky bison flew and it had taken them only a few minutes to make the journey. If Sokka's hunch was right then they were running out of time.

"We'll drop you off by the main gate and then we'll fly into the inner courtyard," Katara told them as Appa flew closer to the ground. "We'll be back as soon as we can!" With that Sokka, Suki, Toph, Zuko, and Mai all jumped down from Appa's back. With a great groan, Appa took off once more into the night sky.

"Okay, let's go," Sokka said, leading them into the palace. They had been here before and the layout of the place wasn't unfamiliar to them. Once they were inside, Toph could use her earthbending to locate Zhao's party.

"Okay," Toph said once they were up the walkway and inside the big main doors, "let's see if we can find these guys," she stomped the ground and it sent out a seismic wave that let her feel people milling about the palace all around them. From what she could feel, the palace was like a huge ant burrow, full of high ceilinged corridors and labyrinthian networks of servant's access hallways and staircases. The people were everywhere and Toph couldn't recognize any of them from so far away. "Agh, there's too many people! I can't figure out which ones are them!"

"Toph," Sokka said, "they will be a lot of them and they'll be going somewhere with purpose and speed. Does that help?"

"Hold on," Toph said, taking a deep breath and trying again. There weren't any groups over three or four and if Zhao and his men had Iroh with them they would need a group much bigger than that. "It's no use," Toph said with frustration, "I can't feel far enough. This place is enormous!"

"Hey," Sokka said, turning to grab his friend by the shoulders, "I know you can do. Don't give up," he said and she nodded gravely. His hands felt warm on her shoulders even through her surcoat and she felt her breath catch. Not now, she thought, and pushed the good feeling down. She raised her leg higher and stomped again. The wave shook the ground around them and the walls around them groaned with the stress. The wave carried across the palace grounds with speed. Suddenly, she felt them.

"There's two groups that could be them," Toph said, "about a dozen people in each...I can't tell anything else from this distance."

"We should split up," Zuko said with fearful eagerness. "Where are they?"

"There's one group...down that way, towards the inner palace. The other group's up on the roof," Toph said, pointing down a hallway.

"Toph and I will check the inner palace," Sokka said, "you three can take the roof."

"Hold on," Mai said, "if it's raining then Zuko isn't exactly going to be his best outside and my knives won't fly as straight or as fast."

"Okay, we can switch," Sokka conceded, in his haste he hadn't thought that through. Don't get sloppy, he chided himself. Master Piandao's voice was in his head, outsmart your opponent Sokka, it told him. Right, Sokka reminded himself, the only way they had a chance to stop Zhao now was to outthink him.

"I'm coming with you," Suki said, meeting Sokka's gaze.

"Are you sure?" Sokka asked her, his voice uneven.

"Someone has to protect you two," Suki said gravely, "especially you Sokka. I've seen you fight, remember?"

"Hey! I've gotten a lot better," Sokka said, forgetting all the bad feelings exchanged between the two of them just for a moment. "But thanks."

"Yeah," Suki said, her voice deflating again and Sokka cringed at the sound.

"We should get moving," Toph said and the two groups split up. Zuko and Mai took off down a hallway towards the inner palace while Toph, Sokka, and Suki followed another hallway towards the rooftop group.

"What if it is them?" Suki asked, keeping her voice level with great effort. She still hurt so much but she wasn't going to let her feelings compromise the mission.

"Then we'll have to hold them off until Aang and Katara can find us," Sokka said. His plan was sounding worse and worse by the minute.

"We can take them," Toph said, her voice full of fierceness and assuredness.

"I hope you're right," Suki said with forced civility.

"Don't underestimate them," Sokka warned, "Zhao is a master firebender and that other guy will probably be with him too. And who knows how many agents…"

"Other guy?" Suki said, the pieces falling together in her head. "Firebender? Scary eyes?"

"Yeah," Sokka said, "we had a run in with him this morning. He burnt this other Dai Li agent really badly but the guy lived."

"I fought him," Suki said recalling the fearsomeness of the firebender from the clinic, "earlier today I spotting this guy, mean looking Fire Nation with these creepy eyes. I followed him to a clinic and I think he was trying to finish off this burnt soldier."

"That's the guy," Sokka said, Zan really did have scary eyes. Suki was silent for a moment, recalling the fight in the clinic hallway.

"He can breathe fire," Suki said finally, "watch out for that."

"He can fly too," Toph replied and Suki shot her a glare which Toph couldn't see. Toph could feel that Suki was now looking at her though which made her very uncomfortable. "Really, he flew off the roof when we were fighting with him his morning. I think he's somehow able to fly by shooting fire from his feet." Suki was shocked at this. She thought that only a firebender infused with the power of Sozin's Comet could take flight but she had seen the mysterious firebender breathe fire which was another supposed impossibility so the fact that he could add flying to his list of deadly skills didn't surprise her.

"This is the place," Zhao said as he stepped onto a guard tower, higher than the rest. Zhao's voice was dripping with frenzy and he looked around at his fearful men with an predatory hunger. "General Iroh," Zhao said, turning on the old man before him, "you stopped me from achieving my destiny once before," he approached the old man and on his order, his men removed the earthen collar that covered Iroh's mouth. Suddenly, a powerful gout of flame shot out from the Dragon of the West's mouth but Zhao didn't move to get out of the way. Instead he breathed in and swallowed the flames. Iroh stood motionless, how was this possible?

"You are not Zhao," Iroh said, his voice wavering, "no firebender alive can do what you just did!"

"Oh I am Zhao," the man before Iroh said, "only now…" he ran a long disgusting finger along Iroh's jaw, "I have realised my full potential."

"You died," Iroh said, "you were swallowed by the sea!"

"Yes, La took me. But _he _brought me back," Zhao was clearly deranged and Iroh locked eyes with the man. If he was going to die, he would die with some honor and dignity. Seeing this reaction, Zhao smiled a wicked smile, "come now, I wouldn't have brought you all this way just to kill you. I want you to be my witness. You, the famed Dragon of the West, the pride of the Fire Nation, you will see my greatness!" Zhao gestured and the earthen collar covered Iroh's mouth once again. "It was my destiny to be remembered," Zhao's voice was white hot in its intensity, "I will be a legend! They will tell stories of me for generations. Zhao the Destroyer, Zhao the Storm of Ba Sing Se!" Iroh's eyes widened. Whatever this madman was planning it was going to be bad. The man was so depraved that he had even killed the spirit of the Moon just to satisfy his hunger for glory!

"It's this way," Toph said, leading the trio through a servant's door and up a steep, cramped staircase. She stopped at the top of the stairs before the door that would lead out onto the rooftop of the palace. Suki and Sokka stopped just behind her, she could feel the uneasiness between them.

"What are we waiting for?" Suki asked impatiently.

"What's wrong Toph?" Sokka asked, his voice colored with concern. She didn't say anything for a moment before addressing Suki.

"You have every right to hate me," Toph began, holding up a hand to forestall a protest from Suki, "and to hate Sokka," she could feel him shift uneasily at that, "and to be honest you make me uncomfortable. But this is too important for any of our hangups to get in the way."

"I know," Suki said, her voice terse.

"Yeah," Sokka said, his voice uneven.

"I'm serious," Toph told them, "if we are going to win this, we need to be a team." Toph's face was heating up and she was glad she was facing away from them.

"Okay," Suki said turning to Sokka, and he turned to her.

"Okay," Sokka said with some embarrassment.

"Are we ready?" Toph asked. They said yes. She made to open the door when Suki spoke up.

"Toph, wait," Suki said and Toph froze, "thanks." Toph nodded and then they went out into the rainy night.

One of the Dai Li agents held a cloak up to block the rain while Zhao opened the small wooden box that contained the firebending scroll they had stolen from the warehouse two nights ago. This would be his greatest triumph! he thought gleefully, he would burn Ba Sing Se to the ground and lay waste to the cowardly peace that had taken hold of his beloved Fire Nation. Then his destiny would be complete, Zhao looked up at the faint outline of the moon behind the clouds. He had failed once before, Zhao remembered gravely, back at the North Pole he had killed Tui, the spirit of the moon, but by some foul trick she had survived and she hung in the sky mocking him. After I raze this vile city, he thought as a smile crept onto his gaunt face, I will be back for you.

The kata on the scroll was complex and it required two things to work, a fierce lightning storm and a high place from which to perform it. The Dance of the Lightning was the name on the scroll. Zhao ran his bony fingers along the broad strokes of calligraphy which named the act which would leave his mark in history.

He was so close now. He had been given a second chance to complete his destiny and an escape from the accursed fog where La had left him! _He_ had offered him a second chance, the man in the fog. Zhao shivered and it had nothing to do with the wind that swept the palace rooftops. He wouldn't go back there, he told himself, he wouldn't spend another second wandering the endless prison of the Spirit World.

Zhao curled his fingers into striking forms and lowered himself to a horse riding stance. His minions backed up to give him the space he would need and perhaps out of fear for the power he would soon unleash. Iroh watched Zhao with wide eyes, wondering what he would do. Zhao began the kata and the sky shook in response to his quick steps and lunges and the bends and flows of his arms as he moved around in a wide circle on the tower top. He snapped his elbows out so that his hands, bent at the wrists, were nearly touching in front of his chest and the storm clouds responded with wild peals of lightning and thunder that was deafening. He lunged forward, bringing his hands out and locking his elbows in and the lightning grew in frequency, striking the upper ring with ferocity. Buildings that were hit had their roofs burst into flames and their earthen walls explode from the rapid increase in temperature evaporating the moisture trapped within. Zhao twisted his body and lunged out to the side, the lighting following his hands and crashing down onto another hapless borough of the upper ring. He breathed deeply and the lighting grew in ferocity again, crashing down many times each second leaving everyone's vision colored with blinding brightness.

"That must be it!" Sokka had to shout over the cacophony of thunder as the trio approached the tower at the end of the segment of wall they were running down. The stone below their feet was slick with rain and the surfaces reflected the brightness of the lightning with ominousness.

"We're too slow!" Suki called out with desperation. Suddenly Toph stopped, wrapping her arms around each of their waists.

"Hold on tight!" she called out and they gripped her intensely as she sunk into the stone of the wall. Then she shot out, the stone flowing up like a funnel of water, launching them through the air. They soared through the stormy sky, Suki and Sokka screaming and Toph bellowing a wild shout of jubilation. She was the best, Toph thought, no doubt about it! They landed on the tower to the surprise of the Dai Li agents. Zhao was so startled that he lost his concentration and his kata fell apart. The lightning immediately went back to its natural rhythm as he turned to face the threat. Children! he thought with disdain, why is everybody who does anything in this world under eighteen? The Dai Li agents and Fire Nation deserters, including Mister Zan, turned to face the unlikely trio and took up bending stances.

"Hold it right there, Zhao!" Sokka called out, "I've been waiting for a rematch with you for a long time," Sokka took a step forward. What was he doing? Toph wondered as Zhao turned to regard the young water tribesman who dared to challenge him.

"Who are you?" Zhao asked, his voice a whisper but somehow still loudly enough to carry over the storm and be heard. Sokka felt a deep anger heating his chest, he breathed ragged breaths and clenched his fists.

"You don't remember?" Sokka shouted, his voice uneven, "huh? You killed my girlfriend!"

"I've killed plenty of people, kid," Zhao said, his voice returning to normal for just a moment before it descended back into its mad timbre.

"Not like her," Sokka said, pointing up at the sky, "you killed Princess Yue when you killed Tui, the moon spirit!" Zhao perked up at this, his eyes taking on a fiery intensity as an idea formed in his head. Could he? he wondered. Perhaps.

"Ah, I remember," Zhao said and with a subtle gesture his men moved to surround him.

"Sokka," Suki spoke up from behind him, "I can take on that firebender," she then turned to Toph, "you rescue Iroh," Toph nodded, "Sokka, you can fight Zhao." Sokka nodded gravely without turning around, he was furious now and it was clouding his judgement. Fight Zhao himself? Master Piandao's voice spoke up somewhere in the back of his mind, was that a good idea? He had no choice, Sokka replied, they had to stop Zhao here and now.

"Keep the old man secure," Zan told the three Dai Li agents who were in charge of restraining Iroh. The other nine agents and four firebenders moved off to engage the little blind earthbender while Zan himself squared up with the fan girl from the clinic.

"You don't have any idea who I am do you?" Toph said as the agents advanced on her.

"Shut it, little girl!" one of the firebenders said. Toph gave them all an evil little grin and she struck out with her hands. A pillar of earth caught the mouthy firebender in his chest and he tumbled backward to slump harmlessly to the group. Another pillar shot out but the Dai Li agent who it was aimed for was able to get out of the way. Then they all attacked.

Toph swept around, dodging chunks of earth and fireballs as she returned fist sized rocks at each of her opponents in turn. None of them were hits but the barrage kept them from being able to overwhelm her. Her fists were fast as the wind and Dai Li agents had to duck and dive out of the way to avoid being smashed, returning stone cuffs and fireballs as they could. This wasn't good, Toph thought, she wouldn't be able to keep this up forever and if she couldn't start putting some of her opponents out of commission then they would eventually overwhelm her with sheer numbers. What to do? she wondered, searching out to her surroundings to find any advantage. A peal of thunder boomed close by and she felt her opponents flinch at the flash of the lightning that had preceded it. If she could strike then, when their vision was a disadvantage, then she could win. But how could she predict the lightning? she wondered, dodging another volley.

"Any more surprises?" Suki taunted Zan as he came closer to her. His eyes became even harder and she could swear that under the bandages he was smiling. He held out his hands to show they were empty.

"No," he said, "more of the same, I'm afraid." Suki was surprised to hear that his voice sounded so pleasant, it was so at odds with his merciless eyes. Then he attacked. His hands shot forward and fire poured out at Suki who spun to deflect the fire with her fans. The flames dissipated quickly under the heavy rain and she was unharmed aside from a light singing of her sleeves. Zan was almost upon her as she recovered from the dodge. He struck low, his foot wreathed in flames as it made contact with Suki's shin. She felt the heat of the burning hot air before the fire made contact. She felt an intense cold and a numb sensation that shot up her leg and sent spasms of pain out from her upper thigh. She wanted to cry out but instead she leapt backward, swinging out with her extended fans to try and cut Zan across the chest. One of the sharp steel ridges found purchase and it torn through his shirt and bit into his chest with a visceral sound. Suki saw Zan's eyes go wide with anger at being hit and he redoubled his efforts, striking with feet and fist that threatened to burn Suki to cinders. She moved back, circled her opponent, and cut with her fans. Always moving, cutting, flowing around him in the Kyoshi style of combat.

Sokka came at Zhao straight on. Come on, take the bait, Sokka hoped. Zhao struck out with a bolt of lightning but it found no target. Sokka had seen the telltale move of Zhao's hands as the sparks began to coalesce around him and at the last minute her threw himself forward under the bolt of lightning that soared harmlessly into the night sky. Sokka came up in a roll and kept moving forward. Zhao was a dozen paces across the rain slick stone rooftop of the palace tower. If Sokka could just get close, he thought, then he could hack the madman to pieces. Sokka held his sword in his right hand while his left drew boomerang. He just needed to keep Zhao distracted, Sokka thought as he dove to avoid another bolt of crackling white energy that sailed over him. As he came up from his roll this time, Zhao was ready. Zhao kicked low and a wave of flames danced along the ground toward Sokka with incredible speed. Sokka dove sideways to avoid the fire but the heat was intense and it burned his left arm as he escaped being burned alive. Agh! he screamed inside his head, that hurts! He looked down to see his tricep already blistering and through the blinding pain he felt the sickly dryness of burnt flesh all across his left arm. Sokka was on his feet immediately, he had to keep moving.

Toph shouted involuntarily as a fist sized rock hit her in the stomach causing her to keel over. Lucky shot, she thought, spitting to clear her head. She sprung back up, narrowly avoiding a series of follow up attacks, as she resumed her earthbending stance. She felt out with the earthbending to see how her friends were doing. Suki was fighting for her life against the deadly firebending assassin and Sokka was trying to close the distance to Zhao but it didn't look good. She felt Sokka dive and a moment later a bolt of lightning from Zhao shot out over the tower top. Her opponents flinched at the bright flash. She had them now, Toph thought, relishing in the chance for some payback. Somehow Sokka knew when the lightning was coming before it did and Toph would use that time to strike.

The Dai Li agents attacked more intensely now, pressing their numerical superiority over the lone earthbender. Toph raised her arms up high and a wall of earth grew between herself and them as they advanced on her. With her earthbending she could feel every one of them beyond the barrier but they couldn't see her. One of the agents tried to pull the barrier down but Toph held firm. This wimp didn't have a chance against the Blind Bandit. Toph stomped a foot and the unsuspecting Dai Li agent, who was still trying to pull the earthen wall down, was launched from the tower top by a rising pillar of earth that struck his midsection. He landed wounded but alive on the stone wall below. One more down, she thought as she waited for Sokka's telltale sign. The Dai Li agents, realising that she could attack from behind the wall combined their efforts and brought it down before resuming their assault. Toph felt Sokka dive and she struck out, a half dozen man sized stones rising out of the ground, with one stomping gesture she sent them flying just as the blinding light of the lightning bolt blinded the Dai Li agents. Four of them went down for the count and two more staggered back up to their feet. Yes! Toph congratulated herself, she was the greatest earthbender in the world!

That trick wouldn't work again, she noted, this time they would be ready for it and as soon as a lightning flashed their would produce barriers to protect themselves from the surprise attack.

Suki struck out and her razor sharp fan cut the loose sleeve of Zan's shirt but it missed his flesh and the miss allowed him to counter attack. He gripped Suki's wrist and dragged her off balance as he stepped backward, throwing her to the floor. She kicked out and felt the snap of bone as her foot made contact with Zan's shin. He released her as she rolled back up and she had to dodge as he slung a fireball at where she had been going land. The fireball splashed harmlessly against the wet stone.

Both Suki and Zan were breathing hard now. They circled each other, each sizing up the other, probing for any weakness to exploit, any advantage they could gain. Suki's leg hurt badly from the burn and she noticed that she was favoring one side too much, that must be how he was countering her so easily. Zan was cut in a few places but not badly and other than some minor injuries he still at top fighting form. How can I turn this around? Suki thought, turn around...then she had an idea. She put one of her fans back into its belt holster, keeping the other one drawn and fully extended. This only had one shot at working.

Zan observed the warrior woman with caution, he wasn't going to make another mistake by underestimating her like he had when they fought in the clinic. She was weak on one leg and that was his ticket to beating her, he understood. But like a wounded tiger/rat she was still dangerous. He stepped toward her cautiously. Then she struck out with the fan, bringing it upward towards Zan's face. He dodged it easily, she had telegraphed her move to him by relying on her stronger leg yet again. The fan flew by his face, blocking her from his sight for just a moment.

Suddenly, a hand reached out, under the fan and grabbed a hold of his facial bandages. It took hold of him and the fingers and palm pressed excruciatingly against his charred flesh beneath. Despite himself, Zan screamed from the pain, his voice joining the deafening cacophony around them. The hand yanked backward and down as Suki closed the distance between them and the bandages torn away from his face, the scabs and salve that glued them to his tender flesh ripping painfully off his face. The bandages covered his eyes now. He couldn't see anything! he thought in terrified wonderment, this was the end.

Suki's fan, now folded into a short steel bar, struck Zan in the head and he collapsed backwards, unconscious. Suki breathed a deep breath that filled her lungs and she turned wearily to assess the situation around the tower top.

Sokka was in trouble and so was Toph. Suki froze with indecision. She wanted to help Sokka but he knew what he would say. He would tell her to go help Toph, that he could handle Zhao himself. Maybe he would even think she was purposely letting Toph get hurt. No, she told herself, I have to help her. She took off towards Toph, leaving Sokka to battle Zhao alone.

Sokka rolled backward as a bright wall of fire sprung up between himself and Zhao. As he rolled backward he saw from the corner of his eye that Suki had beaten the firebender and she was moving to help Toph. Good, Sokka thought, that's one less thing I have to worry about. He was still full of anger at Zhao but between the pain he felt in his now mostly useless arm and the love and compassion he felt for his friends, he was able to think clearly again. He assessed his situation and realised it was grim. Outsmart your opponent, it was his own voice in his head now, you need to get Zhao on even ground.

"Zhao!" Sokka called, holding his sword point toward the man threateningly, "I guess that sword at your waist is just for show, huh?" Sokka sagged to his side for emphasis, making himself look more injured than he really was. Zhao stopped the wall of fire and stepped forward drawing his own blade which he held confidently in both his hands.

"Do you really think a boy like you," Zhao spat the words with disgust, "can stand up to the greatest admiral the Fire Nation has ever known? Fine," Zhao stepped forward menacingly, "I would rather kill you up close."

Sokka felt a lump in his throat. His odds had improved considerably now that Zhao had stopped firebending. Sokka wasn't sure just how good with a sword the madman before him was but at least now there was a chance for Sokka to fight back.

The remaining Dai Li agents and Fire Nation deserters saw Suki approach and take her place beside Toph. They hesitated. The little earthbender had already taken down half a dozen trained Dai Li agents and the warrior woman had beaten Mister Zan, the most dangerous cleaner they had. Agent Fong, the traitorous earthbending corporal of Eel-Hound company knew that they would need to adjust their tactics.

"Move back," Fong said, tossing out a covering barrage to cover the retreat, "get the old man, come on!" The other agents followed his orders, he was the senior ranking soldier between the remaining sleeper agents and the other Dai Li agents, not wanting to be left with Toph and Suki, followed their lead.

"Hey!" Toph called, advancing behind a barrier with Suki, "don't you run away from me!"

"Come on," Fong said as the Dai Li agents pulled back to the ledge of the tower. Satisfied that their opponents would follow them, the Dai Li agents, taking Iroh with them, leapt from the tower. They slide down and landed on the ground at the base of the stone wall.

"We've gotta stop them!" Suki said as Toph grabbed hold of her and they followed the fleeing agents over the ledge. They were leaving Sokka alone to fight with Zhao but they knew that he would want them to save Iroh first. They landed in pursuit of the agents, the ground softening up for them from Toph's bending. The agents were rounding a corner toward another section of the palace. Toph could feel them moving back indoors toward the hallway were Toph, Sokka, and Suki had split up from Zuko and Mai.

"Come on," Toph said, letting go of Suki, "I've got a short cut," she bent a gap in the wall and they entered the a ceilinged hallway of the palace.

On the top of the tower Sokka was fighting for his life. With his left arm practically useless from the fire damage, he had to wield his sword in one hand. He took up a cautious low guard which allowed him to react to Zhao's repeated strikes and push them away. Zhao was good, his back was straight and in perfect form despite his sunken and sickly appearance, and it made it nearly impossible to tell which direction he was going to attack until his arms actually swung the sword. Zhao held his sword over his head in an aggressive high guard and it made his swings fast and powerful and the ex-admiral exploited this fact to beat at Sokka's defenses over and over. Sokka was retreated backwards slowly and Zhao advanced while keeping his perfect balance. It's not fair, Sokka thought, panic seeping into his thoughts, Zhao was even a better swordsman that Sokka was. Look for an advantage, Sokka told himself, what can you use to beat him? His mind was drawing a blank and his characteristic cleverness with tactics was failing him miserably.

Sokka's parries were becoming sloppier as fatigue gripped his arm and the pain of from each blow shook through him. Not much longer now, Sokka thought. He had failed to stop Zhao again, he thought and he had to blink away tears. The storm was still blocking out the moon but he thought he could feel Yue watching him with disappointment as he let himself be beaten by Zhao.

Toph and Suki came upon the front gate to the palace and Toph felt out with her earthbending to find where the Dai Li agents waited in ambush. Most of the surrounding palace was deserted, apparently the servants had figured out something was wrong. Where was Aang and Katara with the palace guards? Toph thought with annoyance.

"Where are they?" Suki asked, panting. Her leg hurt badly and the run had only made it worse. She wasn't sure she would be much use in a fight but she had no choice but to push on. "What's the plan?"

"They're waiting outside that gate for us, I can feel them," Toph said, "and as for the plan…" Toph gave Suki a wide evil grin, "the plan is we attack." With that the two girls went back out into the stormy night.

Agent Fong gave the order and the Dai Li agents sprung into action. They only had one chance to overwhelm the young earthbender and the warrior before they lost the element of surprise. They attack from in front of the gate, from each side, and even from above where two of the agents had used their earthbending to stick to the palace wall.

To Fong's surprise the earthbender struck out and the wall swallowed up one of the agents so that he was immobilized. How had she know where they were? Fong wondered as he pressed the attack. The warrior was injured, maybe if they took her out of action they could still overwhelm the earthbender and win the engagement.

Toph weaved and bobbed, avoiding earthen and flaming projectiles as she return fist sized rocks of her own in all directions. Suki was faring much worse, her leg was becoming stiff and rigid and she could barely get out of the way as rocks pelted her. She dove towards the cover of a low wall that sided the main walkway in front of the palace but as she dove through the air she was hit. A rock, about the size of her head, flew under her outstretched arms and slammed into her exposed chest. The wind was knocked painfully out of her and she flew backwards to collide with a stone wall before everything went black.

Toph felt Suki go down but there was nothing she could do now. She could feel Suki's weak and laboured breaths and feel her heartbeat. Toph sighed audibly with relief, Suki was hurt but alive. There were still nine combatants left standing plus the three that were guarding Iroh. Toph was running out of options.

"Hey! Catch!" the booming voice of a woman called out and one of the Dai Li agents had just enough time to turn and watch as a rock the size of his chest collide with him and knocked him out cold. He went sprawling to the ground as Captain Ya, Lieutenant Ji, Lieutenant Hong, Sergeant He, and Sergeant Mei came running up the walkway towards the fighting. "You look like you could use some help," she called out to Toph who managed a cocky shrug while avoiding a fireball.

"I guess you can help," Toph said with forced casualness, "if you really want to."

"Oh," Lieutenant Ji spoke up, "we very much do." Ji threw up a barrier to block an attack aimed at his captain from one of the rogue firebenders.

When the new arrivals joined the fight one of the Dai Li agents that had been watching Iroh looked away to see what was going on. Iroh took his opportunity and leapt up, his hands and feet still bound, and drop kicked the hapless agent in the small of his back. The agent sprawled out on the ground and his bending was broken. Iroh let out a mighty shout into his earthen gag and using all his strength he snapped the earthen cuffs around his ankles. Before the other two agents knew what was happening Iroh struck out with a powerful heel kick and a burst of flame caught one of the agents in the chest. He fell backwards, rolling agonizingly on the ground trying to put out the flames that had caught on his clothes. Iroh could now force the cuffs around his hands outward and they shattered. He flexed his free arms for a second before turning to strike his final captor. He breathed fire into his gag which cracked like a poor quality pot in a kiln before shattering as he raised his head to the sky, flames reaching up a dozen feet and illuminating the blackness. He was the Dragon of the West and now they all heard his roar.

"Where's Zhao?" Sergeant Mei said as she approached Toph. Agent Fong struck out at the wounded sergeant, knocking her to the ground with a pillar of earth. Toph rounded on him with a white hot anger overcoming her. She stomped the ground and a boulder the size of a man's body rose before her. She screamed and lashed out and the boulder shattered into a hundred shaped pieces that whistled through the chaos of the battle like a hundred knives. Fong looked at the mighty display of earthbending and he felt a pit form in his gut, he was afraid. He rose a barrier to shield himself but the stone shrapnel smashed it to pieces. Dulled by the barrier but moving just as fast, Fong was struck down by the small projectiles. He flew backward as the stones battered his body and he was unconscious before he hit the ground, overwhelmed by the many impacts.

"Are you alright?" Toph turned to Sergeant Mei who lay motionless on the ground. Hot tears stung her eyes as she dropped down beside the injured woman before her. She could feel the sergeant breathing faintly and her heartbeat was slow and weak. "Wake up, Mei!" Toph shouted over the noise of the fighting around her. The rain washed over them both and Toph's tears mixed with the cold raindrops as they ran down her face and onto the sergeant's still form. "Wake up," Toph pleaded as she lifted Mei into her arms.

Mei heard the ocean again, she loved the ocean. Even though she had only been there once...no. It wasn't the ocean. It was the sound of rain. Rain was falling onto her upturned face and she felt that small but strong arms were holding her up and she felt herself being squeezed against the small but solid frame of her precocious little earthbender. She opened her eyes.

"You really thought," Mei's voice was weak and she was panting from the strain of speaking, "that I would be finished off so easily?" she tried to put a false shocked gasp into her voice but it just came out as a pained whimper. Toph made a sound somewhere between a sob and a growl and she punched Mei on the shoulder. "Ow," Mei said with a weak smile.

"Why did you come?" Toph said, "you shouldn't be up. You need to heal." Mei just smiled up at Toph. It was a wicked grin that the blind girl didn't see.

"You needed someone to save your sorry behind," Mei said at last and Toph choked out a laugh. She felt around them with her earthbending and she knew that they had won. The Dai Li agents and the rogue Firebenders had gone down quickly to the soldiers of Eel-Hound Company and the newly freed Dragon of the West. Iroh! Toph thought, he's alright! She felt Suki as well, Captain Ya and Lieutenants Ji and Hong were helping her up. Suki felt injured but she could stand and that was enough. She could get help from Katara when this was all over.

"You again," Captain Ya said to the young warrior as Suki regained her footing. "Why did I have a feeling I would be seeing you again?"

"Trouble has a way of finding me," Suki said with an apologetic smile. "Thanks," she addressed all of them.

"It's the least we owe you," one of the soldiers from the clinic told her. The other nodded in agreement.

"If that's how you feel," Suki said to the handsome lieutenant, "would you mind carrying me? My leg's messed up pretty badly." Lieutenant Hong smiled and gently picked her up. The things he did for Earth Kingdom girls, he thought. He chuckled softly and he received a humorous look from Captain Ya and Lieutenant Ji.

"Mei!" Iroh said with relief as he came over to Toph and Mei. "I am so glad you are alright," he knelt beside her and held her hand. Toph blushed at that and she helped the sergeant to sit up on her own. She could feel Mei's heartbeat pick up and get stronger as she held Iroh's hand, her breathing became more shallow and flustered.

"Same to you," Mei told Iroh honestly. Then she added, "good men are so hard to find." That got a gentle laugh from Iroh and Mei found herself laughing too.

"I hope our next date is less exciting," Iroh said, the question evident in his tone of voice.

"I don't know," Mei teased, "fate has a funny way of making things turn out differently than we expect." Iroh smiled at her and squeezed her hand tighter. The Dai Li agents and Fire Nation rogues had been secured by the irate Sergeant He and Lieutenant Ji and now the unlikely group of soldiers, an old tea shop owner, a Kyoshi warrior, and a blind earthbender, gathered together before the palace gates.

"Sokka needs our help," Toph told the group. They had only been gone a few minutes but she worried for Sokka's safety.

"Then let's get to it," Captain Ya said and Lieutenant Hong put Suki down so she could stand.

The girls had chased the Dai Li agents off the tower and Sokka hoped that they could catch them and free Iroh. He returned his attention to Zhao, pushing his friends' safety out of his mind. He couldn't afford any extra weight slowing down his thoughts. One mistake, Sokka warned himself, and it's all over.

Zhao struck down and his sword slid down Sokka's to the hilt. Zhao shifted his grip before Sokka could deflect the blow and the sword hopped over the hilt and slashed down into Sokka's unprotected thigh. The tip of the blade cut a deep gash down the front of Sokka's leg nearly to the knee before it clanked into the rain slick stone below. Ah! Sokka felt what little energy he had left draining out with the deep red blood that poured out of the cut. He was scared, terrified, now. The sight of so much blood, his blood, pouring out of him in thick rivulets made him feel sick to his stomach. He staggered backward and Zhao struck him with his shoulder, knocking Sokka to the ground. That is it, Sokka thought, he had failed. His eyes burned with unshed tears and he closed them as he awaited the final blow. To his surprise Zhao stopped. The madman leaned down over Sokka, knocking the sword from his loose grip and leaving him helpless.

"Once I finish destroying Ba Sing Se," Zhao said, his voice full of joy and at the same time with a terrible anger, "I'm going back to the North Pole. And when I get there, I am going to kill the spirits of the moon and the sea and plunge the whole world into darkest night." Sokka managed to open his eyes and he stared into Zhao's face, inches from his own. "I just thought you should know." Then Zhao rested a bony hand on Sokka's forehead, his thumb pressing into the groove between Sokka's eyes. His other hand closed firmly around Sokka's throat and Sokka felt his windpipe closing as Zhao pressed down the inhuman strength. Sokka battered at the madman to no avail. His head felt like it would burst from the pressure and his eyes bulged painfully out of his head. Sokka was dying, he knew that. Tears streamed down his face and his heart was pounding in his chest, sending violent shivered to his arms and legs. He felt trapped and he felt so helpless.

Zhao looked into Sokka's reddening eyes and when he spoke it wasn't Zhao's voice at all but a whispery voice that Sokka didn't recognize.

"Do you think it would hurt her to know that you are trapped in the Fog of Lost Souls?" the voice asked through Zhao's mouth. His insane eyes darted up to look at the moon behind the clouds in the sky. "Tui," he spat, spittle spraying Sokka's face. Then everything went black.

Sokka couldn't feel Zhao anymore, he couldn't feel the rain in the sky or the wet stones beneath him. The air was damp but he felt no rain now. He opened his eyes to see he was alone. He sat on packed red earth and he couldn't see more than a few paces in front of him because everything was covered with a deep fog. Where was he? Sokka wondered.

**Author's Notes:**

I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Lots of action and insight into Zhao's motivations and plans. Next chapter as you can probably guess will involve Sokka's journey through the Spirit World to confront the entity behind Zhao so stick around for that!

I hope the heavy amount of action didn't put anyone off and that the shifting perspectives weren't confusing or pace breaking. Also I hope all the characters came across as suitable badass :)

Criticism is appreciated! Seriously. I want to know what you liked and didn't like about the chapter, because it's only with your insights that I can learn to be a better writer and your input helps me shape the story.

Two more chapters to go in this story but don't worry, the Gaang will still have plenty of adventures after this one and much more Tokka. Can you imagine Zuko having an Aunt Mei? ;) that would get confusing.

**To impartofthefandom:** Thanks for the review! The reference is the name of the tavern :)

**To Free-Spirited Dreamer: **Thank you for the review. I'm glad the breakup came out well. I was really worried about it since its such an important part of the story.

**To zulfi: **I'm glad you enjoyed it! Yeah, I wanted to make the breakup very hard on all of them and not just have Sokka ditch her like a lot of fics. Breaking up is difficult, especially when it's for a reason like being in love with someone else so I'm glad I got that across :)

**To hunter111: **I'm glad to hear you liked it :) I wasn't sure about making the breakup a whole chapter but I think it was the right thing to do. It was really sad to write though!

**To Tonitokkian: **Thank you. I'm glad the breakup was realistic and I am going to work really hard to keep the tokka relationship realistic.


	7. Chapter 7

Where was he? Sokka wondered as he peered out into the thick fog that seemed to obscure everything around him. He couldn't even see the sky, but there was a dim even light that seemed to come from everywhere and it made Sokka very uneasy. He breathed in the misty air and found it was wet and cool but he was warm and his bloody clothes stuck to his body with sweat. My leg! he thought before looking down to see it was unmarked. What? he thought but his mind was fuzzy. His pant leg was ripped and soaked with his dark red blood but his flesh was unharmed. He couldn't think straight but the idea that something very wrong shouted up and down in his mind. His hands felt the red earth beneath him, it was brittle and cracked like dry clay despite the moisture in the air.

Where am I? the question returned to him. He called out but the fog seemed to swallow up his words as they left his throat. The tried to stand and found that he could get up easily, his body was completely injured. He heard something in the distance through the fog that sounded to him like a woman's voice.

"Sokka?" the voice, it was a voice Sokka decided, called to him again from somewhere in the fog. It was familiar to him but he hadn't heard it in so long he couldn't be sure from where. He called out towards the voice but his own words didn't travel through the fog and he could barely hear himself.

"Sokka?" the voice asked again.

He took a cautious step forward, he had to stay in one spot he thought. Why was that? he wondered. So they could find him when they came searching, he reminded himself. That was a trick his father, Hakoda, had taught him when they had gone hunting on the ice when he was young. Stay where they lost you, he intoned, that way they would know where to find you again. That made sense, Sokka thought hazily.

"Sokka?"

He wanted to move toward the sound but he couldn't pinpoint a direction in the thick fog. He tried to call out to it again but once again nothing came out. He took a step forward now. That was bad, he told himself, he had to stay where they lost him. Who were they? he wondered idly as he took another step toward the sound of the voice.

"Sokka?" the voice called again and with a sudden revelation he knew who it was. Yue, he thought, or was she Tui now? He stopped abruptly. Yue was dead, he told himself. He tried to remember how he had gotten here. Was he dead? He had been fighting Zhao and someone that wasn't Zhao had said something to him and then he was here. That didn't make any sense, Sokka thought, seeing as here was definitely not Ba Sing Se and Zhao hadn't take him anywhere.

"Sokka? Where are you?" the voice was clearer now, closer. Sokka took another step forward. Not-Zhao had said something about Tui and the Spirit World but none of it had made any sense to Sokka. Was Tui here to help him? he wondered as he tried to call out again. This time he heard himself speak.

"Yue?" he asked into the fog, his voice not carrying very far. There was no reply and he tried, "Tui?" there was a soft hum from somewhere to his right and he followed the sound. He saw a shape take form in the fog before him, it was a woman. She was about as tall as he was, with tan watertribe skin and white hair that was down in long braids that hung down over her shoulders. It was Yue. She was here, Sokka thought and suddenly he found it very hard to breathe.

"Sokka?" she looked up at him expectantly. "What are you doing here?"

"I don't know," he said, stopped a few steps in front of her. "I think Zhao did something to me." Yue flinched at the mention of Zhao's name and Sokka felt his heart break as he considered the implications of what was going on around him. He felt a lump in his throat that kept him from speaking but Yue just watched him, waiting for him to say something. Her eyes looked lost and hurt, and it hurt Sokka to see her like that. Finally he said, "where are we?"

"I don't know," Yue told him, averting her eyes. "I've been here for so long," Yue said, blinding away tears. She was trying to be brave for Sokka but it only make Sokka feel worse. Had she been in this place since she had given up her life to revive Tui and save them all? The guilt was overwhelming and Sokka's knees felt weak. He took a step closer, he wanted desperately to comfort her but he stopped himself. What could he do? What could he say?

"Yue," he said, his voice coming out weakly, "have you been here since…" he couldn't bring himself to say the word.

"I think so," she told him earnestly.

"So you haven't been…" he looked for the right words, "watching over me?" it sounded so ridiculous when he said it aloud. Of course she hadn't, he chided himself, she was dead and she had died to save him and he had repaid her by being disloyal.

"No," she murmured, confused. She looked up at him with red eyes, the tone of her voice holding a question. He had to tell her, his heart was pounding in his chest and he couldn't breathe.

"Yue, I…" he paused, suddenly he couldn't find the courage to speak. She watched him with her light blue eyes and Sokka swallowed. Instead he said, "I'm going to get you out of here."

"Sokka, I can't…" she began but he stopped her. He reached out a hand and took one of hers in his. It felt cold. Too cold. He let it go, his breathing becoming shallower.

"What are you talking about?" he managed to say but it came out weak and uneven.

"I can't," she looked down again and Sokka looked to see that her feet were rooted to the ground with some kind of earthen shackles. Sokka bent down to one knee before her and he reached out to touch the shackles around her legs. They looked like the same dry red clay as the ground beneath them but they felt like iron under his probing fingers.

"I'll get you out of these," he said but his voice came out unsure. He reached for his sword reflexively but stopped as he realised that none of his weapons were with him here. His eyes darted around but he saw nothing around them on the red clay that he could use to smash the shackles with.

"No," Yue said and her voice came out cold, "you won't."

"Yue, don't say that!" Sokka stood taking her hands in his. He shivered at how cold they felt but he held them tight. "I will save you, I promise." She wouldn't look him in the eyes and that sent another shiver up his back.

"You found someone," Yue said, not looking up. Her voice was weak, "didn't you?"

"What?" Sokka was taken aback by the question. His breath caught and his knees threatened to fall out from under him.

"Someone else," she said, it came out as a whisper, "to be with."

"Yue, I…" he began but he couldn't find the words to continue. His chest felt tight and his head was swimming. What was happening to him? he wondered.

"I understand," she said, "how could you still love me? I'm dead," she looked up and her face contorted into a gruesome mask. Sokka pulled his hands away forcefully as her face twisted into that of an old woman, rough and haggard. Sokka thought his heart would stop, he was so afraid.

"Yue, I…" he spat out as he fell backwards onto his butt. He couldn't bring himself to look at her face so his eyes rested on her midsection.

"Sokka?" her voice was quiet but it sounded so sweet that he looked up, summoning all his courage. Her face was normal again and she looked at him quizzically. "What's wrong?" He tried to speak but nothing came out.

"Sokka?" another voice in the fog. It was Suki, Sokka thought, she was looking for him. He tried to call out but his voice had left him again. He stood up on shaky legs and tried and tried to call out but each time the fog would swallow his voice before it left him. "Where are you?" Suki called again. She was so close. He took a step toward her.

"No!" the terror in Yue's voice stopped Sokka cold, "if you go you'll never find me again. Please." Sokka froze.

"Sokka? Where are you?" Suki's voice was growing fainter. She was going in the wrong direction, Sokka thought. He turned back to Yue, her eyes watching him, pleading with him, not to go. Then Sokka heard something else. It was a woman's scream, Suki's. That was it. He took off toward the voice at a run, Yue's sobs chasing him into the fog.

He ran blindly towards the direction he had heard Suki but after a few moments he realised that he must have gone the wrong way. If she was in this direction, he thought, he would have reached her already. He turned around but he had no idea where to go. He tried to call out but his voice failed him again. He took a few hesitant steps in a random direction. Yue! he thought, but by now it was too late. He wouldn't be able to find his way back to her without the sound of her voice to guide him. He was alone again. How could he have abandoned Yue again? he cursed himself. He blinked away tears and he coughed to keep himself from sobbing. He had found her and he had run out on her again! his sadness was turning into frustration and his fists clenched and he screamed into the fog. His voice came then and his scream carried out to be swallowed up by the thick mist that surrounded him.

"Sokka?" it was Suki, she must have heard him. Sokka ran towards the voice and he came upon her in the fog. She was hurt, lying on her side. He rushed to kneel next to her.

"What happened?" Sokka said, panic coloring his voice. Suki tried to speak but her voice was gone like Sokka's had been. "Can you walk?" he asked and she shook her head slowly. "How did you get here?" his voice was rising with the panic he felt. She just looked up at him, the fear and sadness evident on her face. Sokka wiped the tears from his eyes and stifled a sob. He had to be strong for her, he told himself. He reached down to help her up but he found he couldn't move her. She felt like she weighed a ton and as hard as he tried he couldn't even shift her. What was going on here? he wondered vaguely beneath his overwhelming fear.

"Sokka?" this voice sent a chill through his whole body. He would recognize that voice anywhere. It was Toph. Somehow she was here too, he thought. He tried to yell out to her but his voice was gone again. Agh! he screamed in his head, why was this happening? What was going on? "Sokka, help!" there was desperation in Toph's voice and Sokka's heart beat even faster, threatening to burst out of his chest. She was so close, he thought, he could reach her and find his way back to Suki! He turned to go but a whimper stopped him dead. He turned back to look at Suki. She had tears in her eyes and she looked up at Sokka helplessly. He felt a pit form in his stomach and the weight of it nearly brought him to his knees. He gave Suki one last look, his eyes promising that he would return, and he set off into the fog once more.

"Sokka," Toph's voice was getting closer, "I can't feel anything. My earthbending isn't working," her voice was rising in pitch with fear, "I can't see!" Sokka nearly crashed into her as he came charging through the fog. He grabbed her in a fierce hug and she pushed and kicked at him for a moment before realising who was holding her. "Sokka," her voice was so relieved and she fell slack in his arms.

"I've got you," he assured her, lowering them both to the ground. She sat in his lap, his arms wrapped around her shoulders, holding her hands in her lap.

"I can't see," she said, "I can't see anything."

"It's going to be okay," Sokka said, his head resting against her bun of hair. "We're going to be okay."

"I'm so scared," Toph's voice was low. A screamed pierced the fog and Sokka turned his head toward it. Yue! he thought and moved to get up. "No," Toph said, squeezing his hands tightly in her own. "Please, don't leave me." Sokka's heart was breaking and tears poured down his cheeks to fall on Toph's slender shoulder.

"I will never leave you," he told her firmly. "I promise."

"Sokka!" it was Suki again, calling out for him. He felt a pang of regret but he didn't move.

"I'm sorry," he whispered into Toph's ear, "but I'm not going anywhere." His voice became stronger. "I love you and I am never leaving," he was shouting out into the fog now, "never!"

Then everything went silent. One moment he was holding Toph in his hands and the next he wasn't. She had disappeared completely and Sokka sat by himself on the dry red clay in the fog. No one called out to him and his voice had left him again. Agh! he thought, what is going on here?

"I am impressed," a voice said from behind and Sokka froze. It was the voice that had spoken through Zhao back on the tower. Sokka rose to his feet despite the growing fear he felt that made him want to run away. He turned to see an old man, his features so unremarkable that it wa difficult to focus on his face.

"Who are you?" Sokka asked, surprised to find his voice had returned. "Where are we?"

"Me?" the fog man said, "who I am isn't important, Sokka."

"How do you know my name?" the sweat running down Sokka's back was ice cold.

"This is the Fog of Lost Souls," the fog man gestured around. Sokka struggled to watch the man's face but Sokka swore that it had changed slightly since the last time he had looked. "Do you know what that is?"

"No," Sokka said defiantly despite the fear that was growing inside him. "Where are my friends?"

"Far from here," the fog man said, his voice sounded like laughter but he didn't laugh. "Here, you are all alone."

"Why?" Sokka asked, "how did I get here?"

"You are here because I brought you here," the fog man said and Sokka could have sworn his face had changed slightly again when Sokka blinked. "You are here to settle a very old feud."

"Why are you telling me this?" Sokka's head was spinning and his mind was having trouble connecting anything the strange man said to any meaning.

"Because you passed the test," the fog man said, his voice crying but he wasn't crying. "Your greatest fear was...underwhelming. Now comes the part where the fog clears and you get to go free…" the fog man's face had changed again. His voice was now screaming but he wasn't screaming, "except, Sokka, you aren't going anywhere."

Sokka took a step forward but the fog man was gone. Frustrated, Sokka punched out into the fog but his fist swung through the wet air harmlessly. He was alone. The words filled his head and he felt weak. Alone. He had lost Yue, he had lost Suki, and now he had lost Toph too. His eyes were full of tears and they streaked down his cheeks to mingle with the damp air that clung to his skin. He sat back down on the dry red clay and brought his knees up to his chest. Alone, the word was there again. Alone. He let himself cry now and he sobbed into his arms, folded across his knees. He didn't cry for himself but for the women that he had abandoned. He had left them alone, he thought, he had failed each one in turn.

No, he breathed deeply of the foggy air. No! this time the voice in his head was a shout, he would not abandon Toph. He blinked the tears from his eyes and he snorted loudly to clear his nose. He would not give up. With long calming breaths, Sokka stood up in the lonely fog. He would find a way out of this place, he told himself adamantly, because Toph needed him.

The unnaturally even lighting had changed, Sokka noticed. It was as if everything had gotten a little dimmer and the light that seemed to come from everywhere was cooler now. He looked down at the cracked earth beneath his feet to find the faintest shadow. A shadow, he stared at it in puzzlement, he hadn't seen any shadows in the Fog. The shadow grew in sharpness and Sokka realised that some light source must have been shining down on him from above. He craned his neck upward and beyond the thick fog that hung over his head endlessly, he saw a light. The light was faint at first but it grew in strength with each passing second. The light was bright and purest white. The moon, Sokka felt new tears well up in his eyes. This time they were tears of joy, tears of amazement, as he regarded the miraculous sight before him.

The moonlight broke through the fog and the thickness of it that had seemed so impermeable and solid began to come apart. It was slow at first, Sokka noticed. First he could barely see his hands at arm's length in front of him. Then the ground became a solid colour that stretched out farther and farther before him.

"This is quite the development," the fog man said and Sokka spun around to face him. "Tui has always been so arrogant, but I never imagined she would come here," the fog man was holding something and Sokka's blood froze. It was a long plain knife but it filled Sokka with dread. There was something unrecognizable, something terrible, about it. Sokka took a step back involuntarily.

"What do you want?" Sokka's voice came out broken and unconfident. The fog man sighed, taking a step toward Sokka. Sokka watched the long plain knife hang lazily in the fog man's hands and when he chanced a glance back to the fog man's unremarkable face, Sokka noticed that it had changed again. Without the dense fog, Sokka found he could think clearer. Be ready, Master Piandao's voice told him, you only have one chance to get that knife. Sokka swallowed, the lump in his throat felt like he had swallowed a rock the size of his fist.

"We are opposites, her and I," the fog man's voice was crying but he didn't cry. He took another casual step toward Sokka. "Clarity and obscurity," his voice was terrible and it made Sokka flinch, "one to light the way and one to shroud it in darkness." Sokka was breathing hard now, his heart pounding in his chest. Sokka tried to clear his throat.

"You freed Zhao," Sokka said, it wasn't a question.

"Yes," the fog man's voice was giddy but he didn't laugh. He took another step toward Sokka. Sokka stood his ground despite the fear building in his body. His arms and legs ached now, they shivered and wobbled and protested in every way that he needed to run. He needed to escape. There's only one way to escape, Sokka told himself, steeling himself for what he would have to do. "His obsession," the fog man said, "who would have guessed that a mere mortal could have nearly succeeded where I had failed for so long?"

"Zhao only wants his stupid legend," Sokka said, his voice wavering but he tried to keep a brave tone, "he's trying to destroy Ba Sing Se, not kill Tui."

"He will," the fog man said, "his pride will carry him on wings to the North Pole!" The fog man's voice was booming and terrible but he didn't shout. Then he struck. The knife was up before Sokka knew it and it plunged toward his heart. Sokka dodged back, his feet spreading out reflexively like Suki had taught him. The knife cut into Sokka's tunic and the tip of the blade slid into his skin, tapping hard against one of his ribs. Ah! he screamed in his head, that hurt! His hands darted up and his palms clasped the fog man's knife hand. The impact had surprised the fog man and Sokka saw an expression of surprise on his face for just a split second. The fog around them was getting lighter and lighter and Sokka could see further around in his peripheral vision. He could see the fog man clearly now, his face settling into a single persistent face that was completely unremarkable.

"What -" the word came out of the fog man's mouth as he tried to sink back into his protective fog but found that he couldn't. Sokka swept low and the flat side of his foot connected with the fog man's knee. Sokka jerked the knife up and away and it came freely out the fog man's hand as Sokka stomped down and crushed his lead foot. "Tui!" the fog man shouted now and it boomed throughout the whole valley.

Sokka came up, driving his elbow into the fog man's face and before he could fall backwards, Sokka twisted so that he caught the fog man by the throat. The unremarkable face was a mask of fear now.

"Send me back," Sokka said, turning the knife to hold it threateningly against the fog man's throat. "And don't make me come back here and finish what you started."

Sokka's body was full of pain, he was dizzy and he had to blink away the white flecks that covered his vision like a blizzard. His head felt like it would pop and his eyes bulged painfully in his head. There was a hand around his throat and it was squeezing painfully down on him. Zhao! Sokka thought immediately, he didn't have a second to lose. Zhao was looking at down on the young water tribesman with astonishment.

"How-" Zhao began but he was cut off as Sokka's hand, flattened and with fingers extended, struck him in the throat. Zhao's grip loosened for a split second as Sokka dug his thumb into the soft groove where Zhao's throat met his collar. His other hand grabbed Zhao's wrist and Sokka launched himself backward and to the side. Just like Suki taught you, he told himself, turn your opponent's strength against him.

Sokka howled his loudest, fiercest warrior wolf howl as he filled his lungs with the cold night air. Zhao's eyes went wide as his face smashed painfully into the rain slick stones of the tower top. Zhao felt his bony nose crack painfully as he hit the ground and his teeth sink into his lips as his chin was smashed against the unyielding stone. He kicked backward, a gout of fire swept out forcing Sokka to his feet.

Sokka stood ready as Zhao returned to his feet. The madman was smiling, blood pouring from his broken nose and mangled lips in thick syrupy rivulets that turned his teeth bright red.

"I met your friend," Sokka panted, his face returning to its normal color as his blood flowed freely back to his body. His leg was unsteady and he became acutely aware of his injury. Back in the real world, he thought, his body had had just about all it could take. He coughed and it was painful but he managed to keep his voice even as he confronted Zhao, "and I showed him what messing with Sokka get's you!"

"Liar," Zhao's voice was booming, "nobody can escape that fog," his eyes darted about nervously as he mentioned the fog.

"Your friend's not that tough," Sokka said, giving Zhao his best cocky smirk. The moon was shining down on them now, Sokka noted, and the storm clouds were breaking apart in the night sky. "It's over, Zhao."

"No," Zhao said, the fury evident in his voice, "no, no." Zhao took an angry step toward Sokka. Sokka tried to back up but his injured leg caused him to fall backwards so that he was sprawled helplessly on the ground. Zhao came at him faster now.

"Not so fast!" a voice caught Zhao's attention. It was Suki, Sokka realised, they had come back to help him.

"Yeah! Nobody touches my boyfriend," Toph said as she drew up two hefty rocks in preparation to attack. The mention of boyfriend drew a funny look from Iroh and Mei who were flanked by the soldiers of Eel-Hound Company.

"No," Zhao turned on them, frenzied, "you can't beat me. Nobody can! I am the greatest admiral of the Fire Nation! The greatest admiral the world has ever seen! You are nothing beneath me!" He sank into a low stance, ready to strike.

"No, Zhao," Aang's voice rang out as Appa descended from the night sky. He and Katara hopped down onto the tower top. Katara looked at Sokka with horror, examining his injuries. How could he still be alive? she thought with amazement, how is he still fighting? Tears came to her eyes and she blinked them away furiously. He was going to be alright, she told herself firmly, as soon as she could get to him.

Aang rose to hover a few feet off the ground and his eyes and airbending tattoos began to take on an eerie blue glow. When he spoke his voice was joined by the voices of a thousand others in a mad cacophony. They were all full of anger.

"You are nothing, Zhao," the Avatar told him, spreading out his hands. The wind whipped furiously around the tower top and the rain that fell coalesced into a whirlpool that swept widely around them all. The crenelations of the tower, thick heavy stones, broke off and flew into the maelstrom that raged around them. Lightning struck and it too was added to the elements at the Avatar's command. "I have faced a thousand thousand men, in a thousand lifetimes," Aang looked menacingly at Zhao at Sokka could hardly believe that the boy before them was the same goofy kid that was his friend, "and each of them has been forgotten."

"No," Zhao's voice was weak, barely audible over the raging sky.

"And you too, Zhao," the voice boomed over the deafening din with the conviction and the anger of all Aang's past lives, "will be forgotten!"

Zhao's eyes were wide and tears streamed down his face as he turned to run. Aang shot out, flying across the tower top and grabbing Zhao by his neck. Aang lifted him effortlessly into the air and his free hand rested on Zhao's forehead. There was a blinding flash of light and when it was over Zhao and Aang were on solid ground. Aang let him go and Zhao fell into a blubbering heap on the wet stone ground. The wind died down and the rain fell back into its natural pattern. The stoneworks returned to their places on the ledge around the tower and fused back onto the stone. The lightning died in the sky and the storm clouds cleared. Aang's eyes and airbender tattoos returned to their normal state and he turned to Sokka.

"Wow," Sokka breathed, it was just a whisper.

"Oh," Aang said with a nervous laugh, "thanks!" He rubbed his neck with embarrassment. He turned to the others around the tower. Katara was already running toward her brother to tend to his injuries. Toph was helping Suki across the tower top to Sokka as well. Iroh, Mei, and the soldiers of Eel-Hound company just looked on with shocked amazement. Sergeant He fell to his knees, speechless at the display of the Avatar's power.

"Sokka!" Katara knelt by her brother's side, grabbing him in a fierce hug that sent fiery bolts of pain down his arm and leg. "Are you alright?"

"Obviously not," Sokka said through gritted teeth. Katara released her death grip on him, a shy look coming over her.

"Oh, sorry," she said.

"Healing," Sokka breathed, he felt like he would pass out any second, "please." Katara jumped into action, drawing her emergency vial of water from around her neck and set about bending the water over his burnt arm and sliced leg. Sokka leaned back, "Aang…" He turned to face the Avatar. "Is…" he wasn't sure how to ask his question, his head felt light from all the blood loss and the pain.

"What is it Sokka?" Aang asked, coming to crouch beside his wounded friend.

"Is Yue..." Sokka began, fresh tears filling his eyes and blurring his vision, "up there?" he gestured with his uninjured arm at the moon that filled the clear night sky with its brilliance.

"Of course," Aang said, puzzled. "She's the moon spirit after all."

"So," Sokka blinked to clear the tears from his eyes, "is she watching us right now?" Aang turned to look up at the sky and Sokka saw Aang's tattoos light up for just a moment before he turned back to face Sokka.

"She's up there," Aang said happily, "and she says she's proud of you. She said she couldn't have stopped him without your help," Aang finished with confusion.

"Tell her…" Sokka paused to think of what he wanted to say, "that I couldn't have done anything without her." Aang began to turn away but Sokka stopped him, "Not just fog man," Sokka said, his voice quiet. Aang gave him a quizzical look, who was fog man? "Tell her that she taught me how to love someone," Sokka said, fresh tears running down his face. Katara looked away with embarrassment, her cheeks flush. "And tell her that I love someone new and that she'll always have a place in my heart." Sokka's heart felt lighter, he breathed a deep breath of cold night air and it came out hot and laboured. He felt the fear and the uneasiness flow out into the air and away from him. Aang turned back to the sky and Sokka watched as his tattoos glowed brightly for a moment before returning to normal.

"She knows," Aang told Sokka, his voice strained, "she's glad you're happy. She…" Aang coughed to clear his throat, "she says that love is meant to share."

Sokka closed his eyes and breathed deeply. He rested his weary head against the cold wet stone beneath him. It felt so good to know that she was watching over him, that she had seen him grow, and seen him go on to love first Suki and then Toph. He had changed so much from whom he had been at the North Pole. He had grown and his love for her had grown with him. He loved Toph now but Yue would always hold a special place in his heart and he was finally at peace with that. He sighed.

"Hey!" Toph's voice broke into his thoughts, "I know you aren't dead," she said kneeling beside him, "I can feel your heart beating." Sokka smiled and opened one eye to look up at Toph's face hovering above his.

"Are you sure?" he said with all the sarcasm he could muster under the circumstances, "my body might disagree with you."

"That?" Toph said, her voice full of derision, "that's nothing! You're barely even hurt," the confidence in her voice was uplifting.

"Right," he managed to say, "I'm fine. How could I have not realised?"

"Well, you are kind of an idiot," she took one of his hands in hers and he gave it a loving squeeze. She was looking right at him, her green-grey eyes staring right into his. She was smiling sappily and Sokka knew that if she realised how relieved she looked right then that she would probably have punched him for seeing it.

"Sokka," another voice spoke from behind Toph.

"Suki?" Sokka turned to look up at the Kyoshi Warrior. She was injured, that much was obvious, but her eyes burned with a fierce determination that told him that she would be alright.

"I just had to know you were okay," Suki said, her voice thick and syrupy, "I'll go now."

"Wait," Sokka stopped her before she could turn away. "You saved my life," he began but he didn't know how to explain what had happened to him. While he was in the Spirit World? he thought, that sounded insane. While he was fighting the evil spirit of the fog? That was worse. "What you taught me about fighting with my hands," he finally decided on, "it saved my life tonight." Suki choked back a sob, she locked eyes with the water tribesman.

"I'm glad I could help," Suki said softly, her voice full of hurt. Then she walked away. Sokka hurt now too, more than the sum of his injuries. His heart ached.

"Sokka?" Toph's voice was hesitant. She was still holding his hand and she could feel the pace of his heart and his breathing change when Suki walked away.

"Hm?" he asked, turning to look at her pretty face again. She didn't say anything.

Toph cleared her throat, she was so relieved and yet she was still so scared. Had she called him her boyfriend? she thought with shocked embarrassment. Well he was her friend and he was a boy, a voice in her head rationalized. Gah! she thought, they had all heard that too. How was she ever going to live that down?

"Do you," she paused at the absurdity of what she was saying, "want to go out?"

"Well, I'm kind of busy at the moment," Sokka gave a weak laugh as Katara continued her healing on his scorched arm. Toph punched him in his uninjured shoulder.

"You know what I meant," she told him testily, "Do you want to go out with me?"

"Of course," Sokka said and Toph felt some of the tension leave her shoulders. She gave Sokka's hand another squeeze. It felt good to hold his hand, she admitted, and she had no intention of stopping any time soon. "Toph," Sokka said, sitting up with her held, "will you be my girlfriend?" his voice was colored with embarrassment and Katara held her breath for just long enough for Toph to notice through her earthbending.

"I guess I have no choice," she told him, her smile growing wider still. "How else would I be able to keep doing this?" she leaned down and kissed him firmly on the cheek. His cheek was warm and she felt it heat up under her lips. She pulled away when Katara gave an awkward cough.

"Well," Sokka said, his voice shallow, "when you put it that way…"

"Seriously guys?" Katara chided as she finished her healing work on Sokka's wounds. His arm would need bandaging but his leg had knit back together easier than she would have thought. She was relieved and it showed in her tone.

"Oh lighten up, buttercup," Toph gave Katara a wicked grin and Katara folded her arms over her chest in protest. "Like you and Aang haven't been up to worse," Katara tensed visibly at that jab and Toph's grin grew into a wicked smile. Sokka raised an eyebrow at his sister who avoided his gaze.

"Right," Katara said, "I'll give you two some privacy then." She stood and walked back over to Aang who was talking animately with the soldiers of Eel-Hound Company.

"What did we miss?" Zuko asked as he and Mai came running up the stone steps to the tower top. He stopped at the sight of his uncle. "Uncle!" it came out a halfway between a shout and a cheer and Iroh turned to greet his nephew warmly.

"Hello Zuko," Iroh said holding his arms open. Zuko came running up and took his uncle in a loving embrace.

"Are you alright?" Zuko asked, "when you were taken I feared the worst." Iroh held him nephew at arm's length.

"I'm fine," Iroh told Zuko assuringly, "the worst I suffered was a little hurt pride."

"Good to see you," Mai said coming to stand beside Zuko. Iroh nodded warmly to his nephew's girlfriend. Though she wouldn't admit it her face showed that she was relieved to see him as well. "There's just one thing," Iroh said wistfully, "I am starving!" he patted his empty belly for emphasis.

"Let's hand these guys over to the palace guards and then we can head back home for something to eat?" Aang offered.

Toph helped Sokka to his feet and he sagged against her for support as they followed the Gaang down from the tower top. She held him around his firm waist and her other hand was around his as he draped an arm over her shoulder.

"So about this 'going out,'" Sokka began, "I was thinking, what do you think of a shadow puppet show?" Toph laughed at that.

"What do you think about the fact that I could easily drop you down those stairs?" she asked him casually and he groaned.

"Duly noted," he laughed and it came out stronger than he had expected.

"Well there is Katara's surprise birthday tomorrow," Toph told him. Sokka froze in his tracks, slapping himself on the forehead.

"Ah! I totally forgot!" Sokka said, then his voice dropped down to a conspiratorial whisper, "we need to get her presents still." He called up to the rest of the Gaang who walked on ahead of them, "Hey guys! We'll meet you back at home, we have something we need to do."

"Subtle," Toph admonished him as the Gaang gave them suspicious glances. "Well, come on." Once they were out of the palace the duo walked off from the rest of the Gaang and the soldiers who returned back to their park. They had still had some unfinished business to attend to.

**To be concluded…**

**Author's Notes:**

Wow. Almost done. One chapter left to go. Thanks for sticking with the story so far and I hope you're enjoying it. Next chapter will be fluff, since this is a Tokka fic after all, the real finale will be between them.

I hope the Spirit World came off nightmarish enough and that Sokka overcoming his fears about abandonment came across well. The Fog makes its prisoners relive their worst memories and fears and I figured that Sokka's would involve all the guilt that he always felt for the women in his life.

This chapter was a shorter by a bit than usual but I wanted to have Sokka's final battle with Zhao and the fog man be one chapter by itself.

**To Free-Spirited Dreamer: **I hope the Fog of Lost Souls lived up to your expectations :) and I hope you can forgive me for the cliffhanger yesterday.

**To zulfi: **Thank you so much! I'm glad the combat came out so well :) I usually worry about writing fight scenes just because there's a certain skill to choosing what details to tell and which others not to to keep the action moving but with enough detail, that's pretty tough.

**To Tonitokkian: **Thank you :) I'm glad you enjoyed the action so much and I'm glad that Sokka losing the fight against Zhao was believable ;) sorry about the cliffhanger but it had to be done! I hope this chapter makes up for it.

**hunter111: **Yeah, Zhao was an awesome villain and I think that he was the one that Sokka should have to face again, since he hurt Sokka so personally. I had a lot of fun bringing him back! Thank you for the review, I'm glad you enjoyed the action! It took a long time to write it so I hope the care I put into it shows.


	8. Chapter 8

The upper ring was well lit even at night, with lamp posts illuminating each street and many of the large houses that Sokka and Toph passed on their way down to the lower ring. Reputable shops like those they would find in the upper ring, and to a lesser extent in the middle ring, would be closed at this hour and they still needed to find a present for Katara's fifteenth birthday.

Sokka was still having trouble walking by himself and he leaned on his diminutive friend for support, but it was also because he enjoyed being so close to her. Her shoulder was in the crook of his arm and her small but strong arm was wrapped tightly around his slender waist. As they walked down the polished stone streets of the upper ring he would catch himself looking down at his friend and a wide, goofy smile would cross his lips. Her jet black hair looked even more beautiful in the moonlight. I owe you one Yue, he thought with a smile directed upward.

Toph felt Sokka with her earthbending but also where their bodies were connected. His breathing was still light and fluttery and his heart was hopping up and down in his chest. It was the feeling that she had wondered about those two days ago when they had stumbled onto the Dai Li conspiracy that would threaten the whole city and that, if she was being truthful to herself, she had been wondering about for weeks before. She felt herself blush and she turned her face down so that Sokka couldn't see it. He would get a real kick out of knowing just how much of an effect he had on her, she thought, and then she would never live it down.

"I hope somewhere's still open," Sokka mused idly, enjoying Toph's company. She huffed with false frustration.

"Obviously they won't be," she told him, poking him in his side with a calloused finger.

"Then what are we gonna do about Katara's present?" he asked her, frowning at her for poking him so hard.

"We'll just have to get creative," Toph gave him a wicked grin that was totally lost on him. He was too busy looking into her green-grey eyes to notice and his breath caught in his throat. She was beautiful, he thought, more than ever. He pulled her closer with the arm he had over her shoulder for support and her face was buried in his baggy tunic. She rested a calloused hand on his chest for just a moment and Sokka felt his heart stop. He breathed a nervous sigh as she ran her hand across his loose garment.

"Why Toph," he said with false shock, "what ever do you mean?" She pulled herself back from him before speaking.

"Well we have this," she held out a small bag of coins, jingling it for effect. "I figure we can scam somebody in to giving us something nice."

"Good plan," he said before realising that the bag of coins was his, "hey! Did you steal that from me just now?" he gave her his best accusing stare which was completely wasted on her.

"Hey," she told him honestly, "I'll give them back later. Trust me," she gave him her best devious smile.

"Well," he said thoughtfully, "if I can trust anybody to be dishonest it's you." She punched him lightly in the side at that.

"I am a lady," she told him, her voice taking on a false imperiousness, "and nobles are always honest and proper." She stuck her tongue out at him for emphasis.

"Ah right," he teased, "how could I forget, Lady Bei Fong!" he bowed at the waist, too low and too long. She stopped and rounded on him.

"Hey!" Toph said threateningly, "none of that from you, peasant!"

"Yes my lady," he replied, still low in his bow, "whatever my lady wants." She shoved him hard and he fell onto his butt on the polished stone street.

"Plus, your bow is all wrong," she teased him. He just sat on the ground looking up at her. When she made it obvious she wasn't going to help him up, he tried to rise by himself. He fell backward again, his leg flaring up with pain.

"A little help?" he asked through gritted teeth. She sighed loudly and held out a hand. He took it and for a moment they stayed like that, her standing over him and him sitting before her, their hands together. Then she stomped a foot down and a rough pillar of earth launched Sokka to his feet. She steadied him but he threatened to topple over and take them both down. "Not exactly what I had in mind," he told her with a sigh as he steadied himself. They continued down the well lit street, resuming their walk with sokka supporting himself on Toph.

They were in the middle ring now, many of the streets were dim as they didn't have lamp posts in as high numbers as the rich upper ring. Some of the streets they passed were lit only by the cool moonlight that bathed the whole city in an even white light.

"Hold on," Sokka said, stopping and pulling Toph to a halt beside him, "look at that." She felt him gesture to something over to his other side.

"Uh, blind, remember?" she said flatly, not turning to look. Sokka tisked.

"It's a figure of speech," Sokka told her impatiently, "'feel' then, whatever." She reached out with her earthbending in the direction he was pointing. She followed the direction of his outstretched arm to a dark shopfront. She felt inside but it was nothing remarkable, some tailor or cloth maker.

"What?" she said, "I can't 'see' anything?" Sokka was tapping his foot impatiently and she strained to feel anything out of the ordinary. "If it's a sign or something you'll have to fill me in," she said dryly. Then Sokka shifted, quick and purposeful. He leaned down and before Toph knew it his lips were pressing gently onto her cheek just below the eye. She turned and his lips brushed over her eye instead. She made a sound somewhere between a gasp and a yelp and he withdrew quickly, embarrassed.

"Uh," he managed to get out, his heart rate rising.

"What was that for?" she asked, turning on him with her hips cocked impatiently.

"Well, you've kissed me twice and I figured I would get even," he stammered out. Clearly he was regretting his decision, which hurt Toph's pride for some reason.

"Well that's no way to do it!" she scolded him, "I mean seriously?" Sokka swallowed nervously and she eased off because she could tell it was actually bothering him. Her cheeks were blushing furiously as she continued, "try again."

"What?"

"You need to redeem yourself," she said, her voice colored with nervousness as she turned her cheek invitingly toward him. She felt him tense up through her earthbending as he leaned in and hovered just an inch from her face. Then his lips pressed down on her cheek. They were warm and wet and it sent a shiver of excitement down her whole body to feel them against her rough skin. Her mind was light and fuzzy as if she had taken a hard hit to the head.

"Heh," the sound came from her lips as something between a sigh and a giggle. Gah! she thought hotly, she didn't giggle! She punched him in his good arm and he flinched, his lips parting from her cheek.

"What was that for?" Sokka asked, his voice confused.

"That was nice," she said dreamily.

"You're weird," he told her the way that he would break bad news to someone, "it's official."

"That's Toph style," she said with a mischievous grin, "learn it." He chuckled at that, half nervous and half excited, and she laughed back.

"Noted," he said, taking her around the shoulder again. Then they continued on their journey.

They came into the lower ring, onto the rough dirt streets that were dark save for the moonlight and the occasional torch that illuminated the entrance way into some tavern or inn that was open at such a late hour.

"Katara's into jewellry and stuff right?" Toph asked as they came to a likely tavern.

"And stuff," Sokka agreed, "what are you planning?" Toph grinned at him, she loved being the one with the plans on the rare occasions they pulled scams. It was a refreshing change of pace.

"I have a few ideas," she smiled, leading him inside.

It was late when they got back to the house they shared with the rest of the Gaang in the upper ring. Sokka was barely awake and Toph was faring not much better. She had to stay upright or risk Sokka, who was still having trouble walking by himself because of his leg, falling over and taking her with him. They reached the front door and Sokka pushed it open as quietly as he could. The night had been a success he thought.

"I can't wait to see Katara's face tomorrow," Sokka said giddily. Despite not really celebrating birthdays very much in the South Pole he found he was really looking forward to her surprise party.

"Shh," Toph hissed, leading him inside. They crept silently through the living room and down the hallway that led to the bedrooms. Toph helped Sokka to the door of the boys' room at the far end of the hall before letting him go. "You've got it from here," she told him. It was dark in the hallway but she didn't notice, she could feel him through her earthbending as clear as day. Whatever that meant, she thought to herself, was day clear? Whatever.

"Thanks," Sokka whispered into the dark in front of him. Toph had leaned him against the bedroom door but she still held his hand in hers. He like the feel of her hands, they were small and delicate but rough and calloused. It was an interesting mix and it felt good to hold in his own hands. She leaned closer to him and he could smell the sweet earthen scent that followed her around permanently even stronger now that he couldn't see anything in the dark. Was this how she always smelled the world? he wondered. Abruptly the thought vanished from his mind as she pulled herself into a hug, snuggling her head into his tunic over his chest. Her arms wrapped around his waist and he was, as always, surprised by just how strong such as small girl could be. He put his arms around her shoulders and rested his hands on her upper back.

"Goodnight," she mumbled into his clothes.

"Goodnight," he told the top of her head. They came apart slowly and he could hear her footsteps on the earthen floor of the hallway as she moved to the girls' bedroom. The door opened and the moonlight spilled out into the hallway, illuminating her silhouette. Sokka gulped nervously, she was beautiful. Then she was gone inside and the door closed, leaving Sokka in total darkness. He turned and with great care, opened the door and went into the boys' room. He slumped over to his bed and he fell into it without even taking off his shoes. Then he was asleep.

"Sokka wake up!" Aang's voice pierced Sokka's dream. He opened his eyes narrowly to see the sun was already up. Was it morning already? he wondered, he was having the nicest dream about laying on a wooded riverbank with a family of platypus/bears. The dream was forgotten as Aang tapped Sokka on the forehead with a thin finger. "Up! Up!"

"I'm not Appa," Sokka grumbled, trying to roll over and escape the onslaught he was suffering from the Avatar. Aang smiled widely as an idea came to him.

"I've got some nice tasty grasshopper/beetles for you," Aang said sweetly.

"I'm not Momo either," Sokka groaned louder, turning back to give Aang a dirty look. "Well now you've done it," Sokka said with a long sigh, "now I'm awake."

"Good," Aang said excitedly rising to his feet. He stepped anxiously around, waiting for Sokka to get up. "Hurry up, we have to get out to the living room before Katara gets up!"

"She's still asleep?" Sokka said with disbelief, "then why are we getting up?"

"Oh no," Aang said with confusion, "she's been awake for a few minutes at least. Mai warned us, she told her that she was going to help Zuko with breakfast." Sokka groaned. Was it really already morning? he thought miserably.

"Perfect," Sokka said sitting up. He realised he was still fully clothed and wearing his shoes. He groaned again, swinging his legs over the edge of his bed.

"Come on, come on," Aang said, practically bouncing up and down. His face was a mask of excitement. "This is gonna be so cool! We didn't celebrate birthdays at the Air Temple where I grew up," he gave Sokka an apologetic look. "Do you need help getting up?" Aang was beside him in an instant.

"No," Sokka said unsure, as he stood up. His leg was already doing a lot better. He made a mental note to thank his sister for that when he saw her. "I think I can walk on my own," he tested his theory by taking a cautious step forward. Satisfied, he walked across the bedroom carefully before deciding that he was in fact alright to walk on his own. Besides, Sokka thought to himself, he probably could have managed last night too if he had really wanted to. He blushed and Aang gave him a quizzical look.

"Uh," Aang said, "no need to be modest." Sokka gave him a quizzical look, his dark skin fading back to its normal tone, "About being able to walk so quickly?" Aang was confused now too.

"What?" Sokka began before realising that Aang must have noticed his blush, "uh, never mind. Let's get moving." The two left the boys' bedroom and went down the hallway into the living room. There was noise coming from the kitchen, Zuko was leading the effort to finish the cake before Katara came out of the girls' room for breakfast.

"No," he corrected testily, "the glaze should be darker before you take it off the heat," he replaced a small cooking pot on the fire. Sokka's mouth watered as he entered the kitchen with Aang, the cake smelled amazing.

"Mm," Aang said, licking his lips for emphasis, "what is that?" Zuko looked up from fighting with Mai over the pot of glaze.

"This is a traditional Fire Nation birthday food," Zuko said with pride, resting his hands confidently on his hips.

"Except he's making it wrong," Mai said tersely, shooting Zuko a dirty look. She took the pot back off the fire. "It's not called coconut 'seared' cake because the glaze is burnt black."

"The gaze is supposed to be dark, that's how you know it's ready," Zuko turned to try and pull the pot from Mai's grasp and Aang and Sokka laughed.

"No, that's how you know it's burnt," she said it harshly but her eyes were bright and the corners of her mouth showed the ghost of a smile as she tried to stare down the new Fire Lord.

"Ah! Woman you are so frustrating sometimes," Zuko gave her his best frustrated stare, which was pretty good considering it was Zuko after all. "I could just…" then he leaned in and kissed her. She put the pot down on the counter before returning the kiss passionately.

"Ew," Aang said, turning embarrassed back towards the living room. Iroh was sitting on a chair facing the garden. Suki was outside sitting on the big rock.

"You think it's bad for you," Iroh said with a warm chuckle.

In the girls' room, Katara sat beside Toph on her bed. She was trying to be casual but her voice came out too even and too measured.

"So, you and my brother?" Katara said, looking around the room casually. "What's that about?" Toph tolerated the questions because she needed to keep Katara busy, but she hated the other girl prying into her feelings or anybody else for that matter.

"What's what about?" Toph said, blowing out a breath so that her bangs flew upwards for a moment before settling back in front of her eyes.

"Well," Katara said but paused, not sure how to broach the topic. "You two seem to like each other…"

"Yep," Toph said, sitting back further, resting on her elbows. But have you really thought things through? Katara thought but she didn't say it.

"Boyfriend…" Katara said slowly, mulling the words over.

"And girlfriend," Toph said with an exasperated sigh, "it's official." Katara shot Toph a worried glance.

"But he's fifteen," Katara said, flinching involuntarily, "and you're twelve."

"Almost thirteen," Toph corrected. The things she had to put up with for this stupid surprise party.

"Don't you think you're a bit young to be dating?" Katara finally came out and said it.

"You mean like you and Aang?" Toph shot back defensively. She was getting really tired of this conversation.

"Point taken," Katara said with a sigh. She remembered a conversation that she had had with Sokka over dishes only two nights ago. So that was what was on his mind, Katara thought to herself, and she had just thought he was missing Suki.

"I get that you're worried about him," Toph told the older girl, sitting back up so they were beside each other, "but I think he's figured some stuff out."

"What do you mean?" Katara looked at the little earthbender, an expression of surprise on her face that Toph didn't see.

"He just seems lighter is all," Toph said after a moment's hesitation. It was impossible to explain to someone who couldn't earthbend the way that she could. "Like he had been carrying around something for a long time and last night, he finally let it go." Katara didn't say anything. She had underestimated Toph, thinking that this was just her obvious crush on Katara's brother acting up, possibly with disastrous consequences. Maybe she was exactly what he needed. Katara remembered the things that Sokka had said last night, while she was healing his burnt arm and mangled leg. The things he had asked Aang and the conversation that he had had with the moon spirit through Aang. Maybe Toph was right, Katara thought, maybe Sokka had finally figured some things out.

"I'm happy for him," Katara said earnestly. "I'm happy for both of you," she turned and gave Toph an unexpected hug.

"Thanks," Toph's voice came out uneven, taken aback by the show of affection. Suddenly there was a knock at the door and Toph sighed with relief as Mai poked her head in. It was finally time.

"Hey," Sokka said, closing the back door and walking out into the garden. Suki was facing away, her legs curled up beside her.

"Hi," she said finally, her voice low. Sokka walked up and stopped a few paces behind her.

"How are you feeling?" he asked her, the tension evident in his voice. She said nothing for a moment, collecting herself.

"I'll be okay," she said coldly, "I just need time."

"Suki," he began but she cut him off.

"I don't need to hear it," she knew the spiel, this hadn't been her first break up. He was going to tell her how she was the most wonderful girl in the world and that she was pretty and funny and smart and that she would find someone else before she knew it. The only problem was that she didn't want anyone else, she wanted Sokka.

"But I need to say it," was Sokka's reply. "I'm glad we were together," he began. That wasn't what Suki had expected and she sat up in shock, "and I'm glad that now we aren't." Suki stood up and turned to face him. Her face was stiff, she was being brave, Sokka thought.

"I'm going back to Kyoshi Island," she said finally. "Goodbye Sokka."

"Goodbye Suki," he said lamely as she walked by him, through the house, and out the front door. He let out a deep sigh. He felt a weight lift off his chest and he breathed easier. Now all he had to do was worry about not messing things up with his best friend, he gulped, great. That should be easy, he told himself sarcastically as he went back inside. The cake was ready and they took their positions around the living room while Mai went to fetch Katara and Toph.

"Happy birthday!" they all said together as Katara came into the living room. She was overcome with joy as her friends gathered around her, taking it in turns to congratulate her on surviving another, and honestly crazier than average, year. Katara blew out the fifteen candles on her cake after being assured by Zuko, Mai, Toph, and Iroh that it was a real tradition in both the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom. Then the presents came.

"This one's from me," Aang said handing Katara a pair of smooth stone bangles that were inscribed with swirling patterns that had been sandblasted out of the rock. "They're traditional Air Nomad jewelry."

"Thank you Aang," Katara said sweetly as she pulled him into a loving hug and kissed him firmly. Though Aang felt self-conscious about kissing in front of the rest of the Gaang he held his ground, it was Katara's birthday after all.

"These are from us," Zuko said and Mai handed Katara a necklace that was made of a polished red gemstone inlaid in a gold flower. "It's Fire Nation. I mean, obviously," Zuko shifted uncomfortably. He was unused to celebrating birthdays with anybody but his uncle and he was even more unused to giving gifts.

"I love it," Katara said, pulling them both into a deep hug. She turned to her brother, a funny expression coming over her. Knowing him, he had forgotten it was her birthday at all.

"This is from us," Toph said, wrapping an arm around Sokka's waist and holding out a silver headband with angular patterns of the earth and various natural wonders.

"You guys know I like other stuff besides jewelry?" she said sarcastically but her face showed just how delighted that she was with all of them. "I mean really," she turned to regard all her friends in turn, "I only have like one necklace!"

"Oh just get over here," Sokka said embarrassed and he held out his arms to his little sister. She grabbed her brother in a loving hug and Toph joined in making it a group hug.

"Thank you both," Katara told them sincerely before letting go.

"Yeah, yeah," Sokka said dismissively, "now let's have some of that cake!"

Later that day Toph and Sokka had the house all to themselves. The Fifth Earth Kingdom Army and the King's Household Guard were throwing a parade in honor of Aang, even though he had just swept in at the last minute and stole all the credit, and Katara was there with him. Zuko and Mai were at the Fire Nation Consulate again or maybe they had snuck off to spend some quality time together. Iroh was working at his tea shop, the damage from the previous night already repaired as the half of his staff were earthbenders. Toph didn't like parades so she had declined coming along and Sokka told the others that his leg was acting up and he could barely stand. So now they were all alone.

"You're squishing me," Sokka said, trying in vain to adjust Toph. He was sitting on the couch, his feet up on a stool, while she was lying up against him, her head and shoulders against his good arm and her legs sprawled luxuriously across the couch.

"Too bad," she told him jokingly, "I'm far too comfortable to move now."

"Oh come on," he said, his tone light but he pushed on her with all his diminished strength. How could such a small girl be so strong? he wondered. "I'm injured."

"Oh boo hoo," she said, her voice dripping sarcasm, "are you still milking that for all the sympathy it's worth?"

"Maybe," he said casually, "maybe not. I guess it depends on if that sympathy gets me anywhere."

"Not a chance," she told him, pushing with her legs against the armrest of the couch to squish her body further against him and pushing him further against the other armrest.

"Well if that's how you're gonna be then I'm getting a snack," he managed to push himself out from under her causing her to fall back unceremoniously so that she was lying flat on the couch. He walked into the kitchen when he heard her behind him. "Come to apologize?" he asked jokingly.

"Nope," she told him. She was breathing hard and she had a pit in her gut. She took a hesitant step toward young water tribesman. Sokka watched the beautiful young earthbender approach him and his breath caught in his throat. She was looking off at some unseen sight behind him but he looked right into her green-grey eyes as she took another step closer.

"So," he said, his voice syrupy, he cleared his throat before continuing, "what are you doing here?" She stopped a step in front of him. Her heart was pounding and her legs felt weak. Her body was flashing hot and cold and her fingers and toes were tingling with nervous anticipation.

"To get even," she managed to say with a surprising amount of confidence. She stomped a foot down and a small platform of earth raised her up so that she was standing at eye level with Sokka. He swallowed again, admiring her short flat nose and slender lips. Her lips, he swallowed as a lump formed in his throat. He thought about kissing her but he pushed the idea out of his head immediately. That was going too far, he told himself, they had only been going out for a day!

Somehow, Toph managed to get her arms to listen to her brain and she put them around Sokka's neck, resting them on his toned shoulders. Her hands wrapped around his head, feeling his short scruffy hair and his big ears. Her thumbs traced his ears and they began to glow hot. Sokka was glad she couldn't see how much he was blushing. What was she doing? the words in his head were fuzzy. His chest was tight and he was having trouble breathing. Toph looked up at him, right at his eyes. Her own green-grey eyes were wide and Sokka's breath kept coming out in short huffs through his nose. She could feel his breath on her face and it felt good. Her head was swimming as he pulled him toward her, their noses an inch apart. She was sure she was blushing furiously but she didn't care. Their noses touched and Sokka revelled in the feeling of her short flat nose against his broad one. His knees felt weak and it had nothing to do with his injured leg.

Toph felt out with her earthbending and was relieved to feel that his was an anxious as her. It was the feeling she had gotten from him when they had held hands at the noodle shop but ten times more intense. His heart was pounding but so was hers, his breaths were ragged and laboured and so were hers, his skin was sweating and clammy in her hands but so were her hands sweating and clammy on his face.

Now or never, she told herself, earthbenders faced things head on.

Then she leaned in, her lips brushing against his ever so slightly. They felt plump and pleasantly moist against her own which she thought were dry as sandpaper at that moment. Sokka felt her lips against his and he almost pulled back reflexively before he got a hold of himself. His head was swimming as he felt her thin, perky lips against his own and he tried to distract himself from the growing feeling of excitement that he running through his body. Her hands cupped his head gingerly and he reached out to put his arms around her small waist. His hands were planted on her bony hips and his arms felt numb and burning hot.

Sokka leaned into the kiss then. His lips pressed against hers and he kissed her deeply, passionately. She kissed him back, hard. She tilted her head to get better purchase on him and her nose slide beside his so that their mouths were closer together. Her head felt faint. Her first kiss! she thought with excitement, no wonder everyone else was always doing this around the house! Sokka closed his eyes, allowing himself to be lost in the moment he was sharing with Toph. She smelled like the earth and the scent was intoxicating. Her jet black hair that hung down over her face brushed gently against his forehead and over his eyes.

Toph was on fire now, she had never felt this way before and she loved it. She loved kissing Sokka! she shouted loudly in her head as her hands ran through his hair and caressed his jaw, it was everything she had imagined it would be ever since she had first began crushing on him all those months ago when they had joined forces in Gaoling. Her head was swimming and she thought she would fall but she knew that Sokka would catch her, with his big strong hands that rested on her slender waist. He pulled her closer so that his chest was against hers and they kissed for a long time.

When Sokka finally pulled away from her and the kiss ended, he held her close. He couldn't find his voice and she said nothing. He cleared his throat loudly.

"Even for what?" he asked unevenly.

"Huh?" Toph said dreamily, holding onto Sokka for support.

"You said you were getting even?" he said, regaining his voice.

"Right," she said idly, "because you kissed me last. Now we're even." He laughed nervously at that.

"No way," he said, "that has to count as at least two kisses." She pulled back so that she was facing him, her eyebrow raised accusingly.

"What are you gonna do about it?" she teased.

He kissed her again.

**THE END**

**Author's Notes:**

So that's it. That's my first fan fic. Hopefully, the first of many. Thank you sticking with the story and seeing it through to the end. It means so much to me :)

If you liked the story please give me some feedback about what you liked and what you didn't? The reviews I've been getting have been so amazing and it feels so good to know that I'm sharing something with you that you actually like it. Making you happy makes me happy.

Hopefully I did the amazingness that is Tokka justice in this story and maybe I've even won some more shippers over to the side of the Tokkaneers. TOKKA FOREVER!

That's all for now, folks - ClarkyDee

**To Zulfi: **I'm glad you liked it! And I'm glad that the illusions came across so well :)

**To Tonitokkian: **Thank you :) I' glad you enjoyed the chapter and I'm glad that Sokka's test of character came across so well!

**To Free-Spirit Dreamer: **I'm sad that's it's over too, but I'm glad that I got to share this fic :) Thank you for all your help and reviews, I really helped me keep things in perspective and keep things on track.

**To impartofthefandom: **Thank you so much! I hope the finale lived up to your expectations and I hope to write plenty more fics in the future.

**To hunter111: **Thank you :) I'm glad the fog and the nightmares came out well, I was worried that the fog man would be a bit too weird but I'm glad he was really creepy!


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